Disproving Guilt
by brightspark
Summary: SeiferxSquall. Seifer is once again being blamed for things that are wrong, and Squall strikes a bargain with him. If he helps clear up the trouble, Squall will clear Seifer's name. Complete.
1. Bargain

Hey, everyone! This is my new multi part fic. I'm hoping to write something close to or more than 30,000 words for it during April, since that's the target I set myself for a challenge. It's going to be fun, right?

Before you read, you need to know two things. One, it's in POV, which shifts, and two, it's slash, Seifer x Squall style.

In future chapters, I may have to cut some of it out and give you a link to the full chapter (which will probably be posted on my writing LJ), since this site doesn't allow NC17 fanfiction. You can read that or not, as you wish, but the parts of the fic needed for plot will all be here.

This fic is dedicated to my close friend and sister, Lisa, because quite frankly, she's the only damn reason it's being written. When I said I was writing a fanfic for this challenge, she was the one who helped me cook up an idea. And she's the only reason I managed to _start_ writing it, and will no doubt be a great help with later chapters, too, as she always is.

_Edit: And, thanks to the ever wonderful Lisa, I've edited more into this chapter, to break up Seifer's POV at the end and reduce confusion._

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**Squall POV**

There's way too much paperwork to deal with today, thanks to this rebellion. Supposedly led by my ex-rival, though a part of me thinks that surely he isn't this stupid, it's suddenly become my problem because apparently no one else can sign these papers. It shouldn't take this much to get a SeeD operative into their ranks.

They're hiding out in Centra, but they started in Deling City. Alright, get a SeeD to go to Deling City and gather more information…

I hate doing this. I might not be the most interesting person in the world but I'd at least like some variation in the monotony. I'd kill for some kind of distraction today, even if it wears two outfits simultaneously and is called Rinoa.

It's only a few minutes after I thought that that some god apparently heard my thought.

"Squall?" My father stands in the doorway, smiling at me sheepishly, coming closer to the desk. Kiros stands behind him, always a silent presence wherever my father goes. "I didn't call, I wanted to surprise you, I'm sorry if you're busy."

I stand up, liking nothing better than to be swept off in Laguna's babble. Normally, it would irritate me; today I'm tolerant of anything that gets me away from paperwork.

"It's okay, just paperwork."

My father hugs me tightly, never expecting me to hug him back. When I do, tentatively, return the crushing embrace, he stiffens a little in surprise, squeezes for a second longer, and then steps back. "It's so nice to see you, Squall; I wish this wasn't official business, but…"

"But?" I raise my eyebrow. I wouldn't have put it past my father to find some small thing to come and see me about that could have been handled through a phone call, but he looks serious, biting his lip.

"Kiros, could you bring him in?"

The dark-skinned man nods, going out and coming back in a moment later. And then I'm face to face with my ex-rival, ex sorceress's knight, currently rumoured to be in charge of a rebellion.

Laguna bites his lip, looking worried at the flash of something between us, "Maybe I shouldn't have done this, maybe I should have called you first…"

Seifer looks at me for a long silent minute, our eyes meeting, rivalry forgotten roused again by the slightly derisive look at me, as if he thinks I've fallen, become somehow beneath him in being confined to this office. I had missed having him around, until this came up. Now I remember the old feeling of wanting to strangle him.

But then the arrogant look is gone, and he straights up, crossing his arms in front of his chest and using his height to his advantage. "I needed to talk to you, Leonhart, but I couldn't get near Garden without your lackeys trying to kill me."

"So you use my father? That's unlike you."

"He asked for my protection, said he could explain when he got to Garden…" Laguna says softly, filling in the blanks that Seifer wouldn't. "I had Kiros watching over him all the time, but he hasn't caused any trouble. I think you should at least listen to him, Squall."

I raise my eyebrow, letting the silence in the room force someone to speak.

Not surprisingly, it's Laguna. "I'm sorry if I shouldn't have done this, Squall, but I knew you were looking for him, and he did ask -"

Seifer interrupts, "Squall, will you listen to me and give me a chance?" He shifts slightly and gives me another look. I'd almost call this pleading, except that Seifer doesn't plead, _ever_.

"I'm listening."

"I'd rather not have to go through all this with an audience, you know." He's still giving me that look. That look that says how much he hates doing this, how much he hates having to come to Garden with my father for protection, and how much he hates lowering himself to asking favours.

I can't help thinking that the old Seifer would have cleared his name himself. But now he seems more aware of the fact that he can't do everything alone, that he does need the backing of other people.

"Seifer, get on with it." I glare at him with the words, hating how well I can analyze him.

"Fine. That rebel group you're after, I don't have anything to do with them at all. They came to me, asking me to lead them, because I have the reputation to get them into the open and all that shit." He holds up a hand before anyone can butt in, determined to get his say, "And I said no, because I'm not stupid enough to get into even more trouble. I do know some things about them, which I'm willing to share – _if_ you clear my name of this crap about me being the leader."

"You're not exactly in a position to be putting conditions on information, Seifer." My voice is chilly, but his eyes catch at mine, the little spark always there in my heart flaring a little. I've never shown it, never wanted to show it, but I do admire him and care, somewhat, about what happens to him.

His stance strengthens; all pride and arrogance, his eyes still fixed on mine. "But you need the information, don't you, Squally-boy?"

He can read me too well; he knows everything I don't say – always has, really.

"What can you tell me?"

"Their aims, their leaders, their forces," he tosses the words out lightly, as if the information is nothing. But the information he's offering – it makes all this damnable paperwork unnecessary.

Time to bargain for it, obviously. "You tell me it, and I'll clear your name. On one other condition."

"What?" he asks, and he's deadly serious as he says softly, "I need to be cleared, this isn't just a joke, you know, Leonhart. People pretty much all want to get rid of me, and this would be a perfect excuse."

It almost hurts to think of him being killed, but I don't dwell on that, simply nodding. "I want you to help SeeD put down the rebellion."

He snorts, "You're asking for my help in battle? You were the winners, princess, no need to rub it in."

Laguna is about to say something, but I cast him a silencing look. "Does that matter? If you want your name cleared, surely you can help us in clearing it for you?"

What I say is partly true, but there's another part to it. I'd like to see him earn some kind of redemption… something, at least, to stop people being so negative about him. I believe him when he says he didn't want to do any of it, but that's because I know him. That's a rare privilege, really, whether it is as a rival or a friend, so not many people will accept his word.

There's a long moment of silence as he holds my eyes again, gauging what I've said, measuring me up, trying to find any loophole or any trick in my words.

"Fine," he says with a sigh. "I don't really have a choice." And then, more bitterly, "Seems like I never do, when it comes to who I fight."

Laguna takes a breath, about to say something again, but I'm not having it. "Kiros, could you escort Seifer to Quistis's office? She can watch over him until this visit with my father is done."

Kiros nods, the comment addressed to him startling both Seifer and Laguna, who appear to have forgotten he was there. Fools, since Kiros is very dangerous and while he wouldn't hurt Laguna or anyone else without being commanded to – or extreme provocation, of course – if it was anyone but Kiros, that would be a danger.

Kiros makes the blond leave before him, and then he's gone, shutting the door softly behind him.

Laguna smiles at me, running a hand through his hair nervously, "I hope this hasn't caused trouble for you…"

"No, it's saved me from a lot of paperwork, which is a good thing."

"Ah," he smiles in relief. "Then, if you don't have paperwork, would you like to go out somewhere for something to eat?"

Lunch sounds good, and the babble of my father a welcome distraction from all these thoughts, one of them more persistent – and more unsettling – than the rest. I really have missed Seifer.

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**Seifer POV**

Damn bastard, putting more conditions on me like that. I knew he would give me a chance to clear my name – it's _Squall_, after all, honourable to a fault and always with perhaps a touch more concern for me, as a rival, than people might expect. I just didn't figure he'd take advantage of my need to be cleared to make me help him even more.

I can't think what they'd need me for, though. Squall has all the skills a fighter could want, and I doubt he's stopped training just because they gave him a pen and a chair and asked him to command. He must need me for something else, or maybe he doesn't even really need me, maybe he has some other reason… Maybe I'm imagining it, but maybe he actually cares.

Mind you, I should have known. He's always believed me that I did everything I did against my will. Perhaps naively, he forgives me for the things I did. He wants me to prove myself innocent, this time, to people's eyes. They don't believe his words alone, and while I'd never believe words alone myself, I'd never worship him, either. At least not the way they do.

So it says a lot that they won't take his word for it. It speaks of the hate they grew for me, the suffering I caused them while possessed. While I'm not overly fussed about people, I never wanted to do that to them – but they won't believe me. People won't believe me that I'm not really such a grade A bastard. I suppose I don't blame them, since that's what all the bad guys say.

Kiros disturbs me from my thoughts, touching my shoulder to get my attention. "This is Quistis's office."

Quistis? He calls her by her name? "Since when did you lot get on first name terms with the gang?"

He just shakes his head, "Laguna is here a lot, and they're in Esthar a lot. It's not surprising, unless you've been off somewhere unknown since the sorceress war."

Oh, thanks. It's not like I didn't _want_ to be here, but I couldn't come back. I'm not welcome here.

Or anywhere, really.

"Go inside," he prompts me, stirring me out of that thought.

And of course, I do. I'm the prisoner here, I'd better behave.

Quistis, rising from her desk in surprise, looks just the same as ever. Strong, strait-laced, the kind of person that doesn't even notice how kinky it is to have a _whip_ for a weapon.

"Hey, Quisty," I try for the old smile.

"Seifer?"

Kiros comes in behind me, pushing me forward a little. "Squall said you'd look after him until he was done with his father."

"Of course," she says, smiling, "I'm sure I can handle Seifer." She picks something up from the desk, moving round it.

Shit. Handcuffs? She's getting kinkier every time I see her.

"You're technically a criminal, Almasy, so you have to wear those," Kiros says when he sees my raised eyebrow, as if it's not a big issue.

"Fuck no, I'm not being chained to the wall or whatever!"

Quistis narrows her eyes at me. "Seifer, don't be an ass. You know we have to do this, for the safety of Garden."

"I'm not a fucking criminal!"

"We don't know that yet," she says smoothly, and before I really realise it, she's caught my hands and trapped my wrists in the handcuffs. "Sit down. I've got some work to do."

I sit, reluctantly, since there's nowhere else I can go.

"Shall I stay, or go back to Laguna?" Kiros asks her.

She smiles at him, a little smile between people who know each other well. "You can go back to Laguna, I'm sure I can handle Seifer on my own."

I hate this. This is going to happen everywhere I go. I've got nothing better to do than sit and think, and simmer slowly. I know trying to hold a conversation with Quistis will be pointless. She probably thinks I'm guilty anyway.

Ultimecia didn't only run my life to ruins while she was alive. In a way, she's still doing it now. It's my punishment. Squall is a little ambitious if he thinks that by helping him I can redeem myself in anyone's eyes.

Ultimecia really didn't like failure. She also didn't like the fact that I fought against her, once I realised how she was manipulating me. The one person she truly feared was Squall, after coming to know his strength through my – rather fond – memories of him, and he was the one person I refused to kill.

Since then, I'd say he's become even more a force to fear. He's matured a little, strengthened emotionally and grown up. I can see why people trust him and adore him so much. He's the perfect candidate for a hero if there ever was one, a perfect person for kids to looks up to. 'If you eat up your greens, you'll get big and strong like Squall Leonhart.' Hah.

He seemed… happier, today, than ever before, though that's not quite the word. 'Lighter' might fit better. He seemed to be more open, certainly he seemed to have a comfortable enough relationship with his father – shit, that's strange, that guy having a father, but he looks quite like him – they're both prettyboys.

And as for the lighter attitude, well… There's always been a kind of seriousness deep rooted in him, but he's let that give way a little, and there's a touch of humour possible in those eyes, too.

I should know the difference, however minute – I spent years studying him like he was some interesting book. We've never been friends, but that's never mattered, either. It was just as important to know my rival as it would have been important to know him if I was his friend – or, as I had wanted, as his lover. I know him better than most; simply because of the time I spent fighting him, learning to read when I was pushing him too far.

I misread him, once.

That's why we both have scars on our faces. Proof that getting cocky can be extremely dangerous.

So, he wants me to prove myself. Fair enough.


	2. Information

Hey! Welcome to a new chapter. :) Yeah, this challenge isn't going too badly, this fic is raking me up quite a lot of words. Between this and my WIP novel I'm not doing _too_ bad, I just need to get 2000 words on my novel tonight... anyway.

This chapter is brought to you mostly thanks to me, of course, but lots thanks to my friend, who has been an angel, duct-taping down my "write like crazy" button, providing procrastination when needed and reading through to catch where I played with word order and messed it up.

Thanks for the reviews, guys!

QueenAdreena - NC17 seems to be the equivalent of MA, which is still not allowed, rather than M, which means I'll still probably keep safe and link off to smutty stuff.

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**Quistis POV**

"Squall," I say quietly from the door of my office, interrupting his walk down the hallway to his own office.

"Quistis," he turns to me, acknowledging my presence.

He looks more relaxed I've seen him in ages. It's a pity that I have to drag him back into the working world again so soon, especially because he secretly enjoys the time spent with his father and won't be too eager to come right back to working. Looking at him, he seems… caged, in Garden, hemmed in by paperwork. He's a brilliant Commander, but I think he would be happier if he could spend his life fighting and die young rather than die slowly in an office.

Unfortunately, for now, he's stuck with the life of the Commander, and that means an office. And he has to explain to me why Laguna came to visit and why Seifer Almasy is currently sat in handcuffs in my office.

"What's going on?" I step out of my office and close the door, not knowing if Seifer should hear this or not.

"Have you read the report on the Deling city rebellion yet?" he asks, sighing softly and running a hand through his hair. There's hesitance there, and it seems almost as if he doesn't really want to be dealing with this case.

"I haven't had time yet."

"Come to my office, then." He's already walking, his back to me. Some people would call it rude, I suppose, but actually… how often would you turn your back on someone who could kill you? Subtle changes in the way Squall works show in the little things like that. This one shows that he's learnt to trust us.

I don't question that he's left Seifer alone in my office. Squall wouldn't forget a detail like that, and obviously he trusts Seifer not to do anything to my office.

That says something to me as well, because Squall isn't usually the most trusting of people.

He doesn't say another word until we're in his office, sitting down. He seems perfectly at ease in the Commander's chair, but I can tell that this weighs on him – he wouldn't ever admit it, of course. Dutiful, yes, suited to command, yes, but I think the thing he hates is all the responsibility he's forced to take.

"I assume you know that Seifer is supposedly the one in charge of this rebellion?" he asks me, as if just continuing the conversation exactly where we left off. He flips through a case file, obviously checking on the details himself.

"Yes, of course, you mentioned that." I'll let him take his time getting to the point, as he talks, he'll be processing it in his own mind, and that's a good thing when it comes to Squall.

He's very good at decision making, too.

"The truth is that we don't know a lot about this rebellion yet. Seifer claims he's not in charge, and that he can offer us information. The case was brought to SeeD's attention by Deling City, whose leaders are apparently concerned that the unrest casts a bad reflection on them. They believe that it's intended to discredit Deling City to some extent." There's a faint tone of derision in his voice that I've never really come across before, showing how little he thinks of these people that can't take care of themselves and have to call on SeeD.

"So… they want SeeD to help him get rid of it?"

"Apparently. All we knew to start with was what Deling was telling us. However… we do know now that they're based in Centra, but do their recruiting through Deling City." He frowns a little as he speaks, obviously not happy with the picture this situation is painting for him.

"And Seifer is the leader?" I'm finding this a little hard to swallow, too. Seifer isn't the most well behaved person in the world, but…

"He's not an idiot," Squall voices the thought for both of us, "he knows what people think of him and the danger he'd be in. It could have been started by someone who wants Seifer out of the way."

"People just can't let go... I don't blame them, really." I'm not sure if _I_ believe that Seifer is more or less innocent. "What are we going to do about this?"

I know I'm one of them, but it's sad, really, that some people can't forgive him. It's not just his former instructor's pride speaking, I really do think that Seifer could have been a truly great leader if he hadn't followed the Sorceress. People already admired his skill with a blade, Fuujin and Raijin would have followed him to hell and back, if he had asked them… It was a waste. People might have followed Seifer much as they follow Squall now.

There's a set to Squall's jaw that makes me wonder. Does he believe Seifer already?

"Seifer came to Garden to offer us information, in return for Garden clearing his name of blame for this."

"And…?" I know the answer already. Squall has to collect more information, true or false, on this matter, before he can send a single SeeD in.

"We need to talk to Seifer."

"Now?"

He shrugs, standing up. "Has he eaten? He might be innocent, but I know how grumpy he can get when he's hungry."

"Right. I'll try to get a tray of food from the cafeteria. What about you? Hungry?" I stand as well, the moment oddly formal.

I never have got used to the fact that where I was once his superior, he is now mine.

"I don't want anything. I'll meet you in your office in… five minutes." He inclines his head, making sure that arrangement is okay. I nod, and he nods in satisfaction, heading for the door and my office already. I leave in the opposite direction, heading down to the cafeteria.

I don't know whether I believe that Seifer is innocent. Squall seems to, and that counts for something, but… I never would have pictured Seifer, even in trouble like this, coming to Garden for help. It makes me wonder if there's something else going on.

But that's not my job. Squall's job is to evaluate who SeeD fight for and where SeeD stands on certain issues. That's his responsibility, not mine.

I'm just here to carry out Squall's orders.

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**Squall POV**

I step into Quistis's office quietly, but Seifer's head still jerks up, his eyes settling on me with a hint of relief. "Shit, Leonhart, don't do that."

I wonder what made him so wary of people sneaking up on him. But then, I probably don't need to wonder. There are enough people that want to kill him in Garden alone to outnumber him easily.

"Quistis will be here in a minute. She's getting you some food."

"Oh, good. I thought for a while earlier that she was going to be sadistic and not feed me." He grins, without any humour, his green eyes almost like a hunter's, like a cat's in the gathering dark. "So, Squally-boy, what do you two want from me?"

"Information, of course. I'm not endangering SeeD for this without any information."

He looks at me, and closes his eyes, mouth curving into that smirk I know so well. "Quistis doesn't believe me, does she? But you do."

"You're not an idiot. I can't believe you'd accept an offer and become the leader of a rebellion, considering how much people hate you."

A note of bitterness taints the smirk and his voice when he speaks. "Maybe I want to die, Squally-boy. Did that thought occur to you?"

It's true that I know he would never take his own life. But deliberately put himself in a position for someone else to kill him…? No, that doesn't fit the Seifer I know either. He'd never allow anyone to kill him easily; he'd go down fighting all the way. And there are precious few people with skill to match his in battle. Still… if SeeD got involved, he might have come up against one or more of those few.

Still, I doubt it. He just likes to watch me get lost in thought, so he can taunt me over it. It's odd to think how much the taunting still stings.

And even odder to think that I would actually be upset if he really did want to die. I suppose that could be explained away by the respect I have for him – don't want to see him fall by setting up someone else to kill him… "Don't be stupid."

"You were considering that for a minute, eh? No, you're right, I'm not stupid and I wouldn't do that." He leans back in the chair, "But neither you or Quistis or anyone else is going to take my word for it."

That's true, too. Seifer was our enemy during the Sorceress war. We're not going to trust him straight off.

"Still, you could at least take my handcuffs off."

"I don't know where the keys are, or I would."

"Right here," Quistis says, opening the door and smiling at me. She balances the tray of food, putting it down next to Seifer, and then pulls out the keys, giving them to me to free him while she walks round and settles in her chair, pulling out a file to make notes.

He rubs his wrists as soon as I've freed him, cursing softly. "You did those a bit tight, Trepe."

"Sorry," she says, but there isn't much regret in her voice.

"What can you tell us, Seifer?" I get right to the point as he pulls the food over to him.

He sits back in his chair, his eyes on me searchingly. "I don't think they'd ever really thought they could get me to join them, so I don't know why they told me this. It might be false information."

"We'll judge that," Quistis speaks up, her voice firm, "You tell us what you know, Seifer."

"Fine. They don't like Garden, they don't like Esthar. They don't like the combination of that and the fact that you," he gestured at me, "are related to the president of Esthar. They think it's some kind of conspiracy. Their idea, which really seems stupid to me, is to replace you and Loire with whoever they feel like."

I should have known they wouldn't leave _that_ relationship alone. People just have to see a conspiracy everywhere.

He continues, his gaze not leaving me, perhaps watching how I react. "They want to get their people into positions of power for whatever reason. They want GFs and magic, they want gunblade specialists – basically, whatever comes after it, Balamb Garden is their first target."

"They're not getting Garden, though." That's something I would never allow to happen. Garden is a mercenary force, but it's also something that could easily be misused.

"Well. That's their plan, to use Garden's resources." He stretches, concentrating on eating for a moment.

Quistis and I look at each other while he's occupied, eyes meeting with worry. How could they think that they could take over a Garden? Treachery? Some invention we know nothing about?

He looks up, catching the concern and smirking slightly, "You're going to attack their base, right?"

"It seems like we'll have to," Quistis says, her eyebrows drawn together to form a crease of worry on her forehead. It doesn't suit her.

I look at Seifer's smirk, something that tells me he thinks that attacking them would be a bad idea. "There's something else about that base, isn't there?"

"It's underground. And guarded by a _lot_ of monsters. They don't let regular recruits to their cause in there, but if you want the leader, whoever he is, who's stolen my name, that's where you'll have to go."

Well, that complicates things.


	3. Interaction

Yay! I'm on track with this challenge - even, maybe, a little bit ahead. Yay me, right?

Thank you to the reviewers so far. I like to be appreciated. ;)

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**Seifer POV**

"Can't you stop all this guard dog crap?"

"Seifer," he says warningly, and I get the point. He's getting a headache, he's trying to work through that pile of reports, he's getting sick of me and most of all, he'd like to stop right now and go to bed. He used to say my name in that exact same tone when I used to bug him when writing assignments in class.

Funny how I used to love pushing him right to the edge of his tolerance. I misjudged, more often than I like to think, and it always resulted in a fight. Some worse than others. Whoever would have thought that the Ice Princess is really quite touchy when provoked enough?

But I'm determined to wear down Squally-boy's defences on this. There's nothing I hate more than enforced company all the time, especially when it's as close-mouthed and work orientated as the dear Commander, and I want him to damn well know it. At least the view is pretty.

"So, what are you actually doing there, Squally-boy?" I'm talking now to amuse myself, because annoying him is better than sitting here thinking. And, of course, that pissed off look that I remember so well is well worth provoking too.

"Reading reports from Deling City," he says quietly, his voice soft but matter of fact.

"Why are you bothering to read all that shit?"

He sighs, looking up, his eyes somewhat pissed off. No, Squally, I'm not trying to piss you off at the moment. Actually, I just want to know why this matters so much. There's an arrogant part of me, I admit, and that arrogant part wants him to say that he doesn't want people killing me for this. Unfortunately, I'm sure he's only thinking of the safety of Garden.

I don't want to examine why that makes me feel a touch regretful.

His voice snaps my attention back to him, my eyes on his. His eyes always look sad, to my mind, and today they look sad and tired. "I'm the Commander of Garden, I have to. I'm reading them thoroughly because I'm concerned for the safety of Balamb Garden. And… I don't believe you're guilty, so it'd be wrong to let people blame you for it."

I expected the first part, but the last part? That's something new for Squall. I'd almost call it _caring_ about me.

Without giving myself time to ponder over the fact that somehow, impossibly, he cares somewhat about me, I jump right in. "So if I'm innocent, why the fuck am I under twenty four hour guard?"

"Because Quistis would have a fit if I didn't take this precaution." His tone says 'end of discussion', his eyes flickering back to the type written pages in front of him.

It annoyed me, when we were training, how easily he could ignore me. It still annoys me now, enough to make me lean over and snatch the papers from his hands. "Talk to me, prettyboy."

He glances up at me, his jaw firming, his eyes flaring with that old annoyed look. It's like coming home to see it there again. I guess that says something about how I feel about him. I can be here, in Garden, where I spent years of my life, but I only feel as if I've come home when I see that old look burning somewhere in his eyes.

"Why do you always call me that?"

That wasn't exactly expected… I figured he'd demand this crap back, not start interrogating me about what I _call_ him. And I don't really have an answer – it just fits. I tell him that and he looks at me with an eyebrow raised.

"No real reason?"

"Does everything have to have a reason, princess?"

He actually gives that a moment's thought, and while he does, I watch him. He's grown up just that little bit more while I was gone, and not just emotionally. He's still pretty, I don't think that will ever change, but there are more adult, masculine lines to his face that weren't there before. He looks more of an adult than a teenager now.

He raises an eyebrow at my scrutiny and I look away, down at the reports in my hands. "Since you've got me around here all the time, I might as well make myself useful. I'll read half of these, you read the other half, and I'll tell you what I find out." I pass him back half of the pile and he blinks up at me, a hint of suspicion creeping into his eyes.

"Why are you suddenly being so co-operative?"

Oh, Squall, so quick to think the worst of me.

"Because I want to help, because you're tired, and I have nothing else better to do thanks to you being my fucking guard dog. Now get on with it."

He looks at me, a long, cool stare. "I could take a break," he says quietly, putting the folders down. "We could go outside for a while if you're feeling cooped up."

"Outside would be nice, I haven't had a breath of fresh air since I got here." I give him an accusing look, but he just takes it in his stride with that vague smile of his. I am surprised, though – I never thought he'd be the type to actually notice how much I hate being cooped up in here.

"Then come on." He heads out of the door and I follow him. It's not only his face that's matured – his body has, too. Where before he was skinny, wearing his height awkwardly, now it's like he's grown into his own body; lithe and well muscled, at home in the leather like it's a second skin. I can't imagine fighting him now without a great deal more difficulty than I had before.

He deserves all he's got. His friends, his salary, his position… He made something of his life. I remember when we were still studying, he was always the focused one – he wasn't interested if it couldn't help him become a better SeeD in the end. I was always the one with the dreams, yes, half formed snatches of romance right from a fairytale. He had _goals_, clear ones, things he could aim for and strive for and reach.

I didn't work for what I wanted; I thought I wouldn't have to. I guess I thought I was good enough anyway. And I hoped something would come along and catapult me into some kind of glory without having to work for it. And I thought something did, but… you know that saying, 'pride comes before a fall'? I fell.

I must have fallen. Before all that crap, I'd never have quoted some 'wise' saying.

Before I even realise it, Squall has led me out into the open air of the quad. He sits down, resting his elbows on his knees, looking thoughtful. While he sits, I can't resist the urge to pace about, stretch my legs, and expand into the darkness outside of the fake lights of Garden. Since Ultimecia, I've found myself enjoying the natural things more. Things I wasn't allowed when she shut me out of my own mind. Nothing was my own – not to touch, not to taste, not any kind of experience.

I thought being a sorceress's knight would make me happy, but it didn't… I've never felt as happy as when I was released from her control, though. It's wonderful to be in control of myself again. Still a wonder now, even. But I'm still not exactly _happy_.

I surprise myself when I turn to Squall, the question on my lips already before I really think about it. In control of myself? Maybe not. "Are you happy?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "Define happy, and I'll tell you."

"I don't know." I have to shrug as well. He isn't happy, I can tell, but I'm damned if I could explain to him how he _could_ be happy or why he isn't happy. And I can't possibly say to him that he deserves to be happy, that he deserves better than this, because to his mind, he has enough, he has what he's earned.

I give up on the conversation and walk away from him a little – not out of sight, but far enough so that I can feel a little more alone. Feeling alone is a thing to treasure, too; I never got to be alone when I was _her_ knight.

* * *

**Squall POV**

Happy? Why did he choose to ask that? It's true that I'm not happy, not exactly. I'm content, and I guess that's enough. I've got more than I ever aimed for, more than just a place among SeeD ranks, which is what I wanted.

I don't _know_ what would really make me happy, but I doubt that I'm going to find it. I guess I thought I had it for a while there. But… I've never liked to trust my life to a fairytale. There's no 'happily ever after' for heroes. Not heroes like me, anyway – I still have a job to do and I have to keep living up to expectations.

Seifer comes over to sit beside me, silent for a moment. We sit like that for a while, until he speaks up.

"Let's go inside," he says, noting the goose bumps on my arm. It is chilly, and I'm not wearing my jacket, but I don't really want to go inside. I sit still for another long moment and he settles again beside me with a soft mutter, "Stupid asshole."

"I like it out here."

"Ah, so that's why… Don't like your office, hm?"

I don't even bother to answer. He just huffs softly, shifting closer to me so that my bare arm touches his. I don't bother to move away from the touch, finding it oddly comforting, now that I'm suddenly confronted with the thought that I'm _not_ happy, that doing all this work and staying in an office forever is _not_ enough for me. He's always liked presenting me with ideas like that and then watching me think it out. This is probably just entertainment for him.

"What would make you happy? Fighting again?" he asks, quietly. "Doing what you were actually trained to do?"

"Maybe."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because people need me in this job, too."

"I see." There's another long pause, and I'm just thinking of asking him if he still wants to go inside, when he turns to me, his eyes bright and earnest in the dark. "Do you hate me, Squall?"

"Why should I?"

He looks at me, searching, "You don't?"

"Fighting is what SeeDs do. Killing is a part of that." I shrug. I've always been prepared to fight and even kill people I know. It's the life of a paid killer like a SeeD. We'll ignore the politics of a situation, ignore who we think is right personally, and follow orders. As long as we get our pay.

"But… I _let_ the Sorceress possess me."

"Then why do you feel so guilty, if it was something you chose?"

He laughs, quietly, his shoulders sagging a little. "I don't get you, Squall. Why do you even care? Why are you giving me a chance to fight alongside you and your SeeDs and get some kind of forgiveness from people?"

I don't know myself. Or maybe… I do know. "Because you've always been there."

"Just like that, huh?" His eyes are still searching my face, "That seems too… easy."

"It sounds like you don't want to be forgiven."

I don't understand why he blames himself. Any one of us could have fallen the same way – though the thought of Zell being a sorceress's knight makes me smile just a little bit.

"I don't know, I do, and I know it wasn't my fault, but I feel like people aren't ever going to forgive me. Not sure I deserve forgiving, even though I wasn't under my own control. I mean… I went with her in the first place." He shrugs. This is a new side of him I've never really seen; a side of him that might only have ever come to light through this. The Seifer I used to know was all pride and dreams. This Seifer is thoughtful, solid, and down to earth.

"Most people don't even know the truth."

"They wouldn't have believed it if you told them. People need more than the word of someone involved. They need some kind of proof, but there is no proof."

"You sound bitter."

Seifer laughs quietly. "You're the only one, at the moment, Squally-boy, that isn't afraid I'm going to stab you to death with Hyperion. You're not the greatest company, and you don't even like me all that much, so I'm a little bitter about the lack of good company, okay?"

I'm tired of trying to understand why he says what he's saying. I don't like doing it when he's talking so freely, but I know when it's time to let a conversation die, to let a connection fade for a while. "Let's go inside."

He stands and offers me a hand up, which I take, the leather always stiff after I sit around in the cold too long. He follows me silently inside. Even though I ended the whole situation, the conversation stirs odd aches and wants in me that I've been shutting out. The desire to be happy, the ache of knowing he'll probably never earn forgiveness, the ache that he thinks I hate him…

I sigh. It's going to be a long night, if I have to guard him all the time, but I know what Quistis would say to me if I let him walk around on his own.


	4. Action

Hey. :) Yeah, me again, blah blah blah. Well, the friend who this whole fic is for is going to be leaving me tomorrow for a few months, which makes me very, very sad. So this chapter is extra specially for her, and I'll be trying to get another done tomorrow for her, too.**  
**

As for the length of this fic, I think someone asked, I'm thinking that since my target is 30k words for the month, that should be around fifteen chapters.

This chapter has been edited, since my darling was awake enough to quickly reread it and give me some criticism

* * *

**Squall POV**

"You know what you're doing?"

"Yes, sir!" they say, eager, ready to fight. I hate to send such new SeeDs to fight such a serious battle, but they are no more new than we were when we faced the Sorceress, and it's a SeeD's job to do the risky things, the things no others would dare. They have to get used to that sometime, and pampering them now isn't a good way to go. I've tried mixing more experienced SeeDs with them, and I'm hoping Quistis can exert some pressure on them as well.

I turn to Quistis and Zell. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" Zell punches the air with his fist, all energy and exuberance. Will he never learn to take this seriously? Though perhaps his positive attitude is a good thing.

"Yes, Commander," Quistis smiles faintly at Zell's enthusiasm and nods to me, "We're ready."

"Seifer?" I turn to look at the blond haired man. He has Hyperion already in his grasp and a small smirk on his face.

"Ready. These bastards aren't going to use my name for their cause when I said they couldn't."

His voice says that he isn't at all nervous, that this means nothing to him, that the outcome will have no effect on him. But the grip he has on Hyperion, and the dangerous look in his eyes, tell me that he really is going to _fight_ today. He has a purpose, he has the strength to carry it out, and _nothing_ is going to hold us back. He's… happy to be fighting beside us, I might even say proud, but I doubt he's proud to admit that he does need our help in this.

"I doubt this mission is going to be successful," I warn. The newer SeeDs don't listen, caught up in all their glory of being new SeeDs, of having passed the tests, of being under the command of the best known SeeDs of our time. I hope that doesn't mean that I'll have difficulty making them understand the dangers, but I think it does, although perhaps our influence over them might help… Sadly enough, we'll probably lose at least half of both these squads.

I try again, despite the seeming futility. "We're trying to test what's here, not actually fight our way through. That is for other teams to do. The most important objective is to make it back _alive_, with useful information."

The new SeeDs nod and salute, the information going in one ear and out the other. I should scold them for it, but they're so proud to be on this mission, so proud to be here, that it would almost be cruel. Punishment will come later, if they haven't listened to me; death on the field or a time in the infirmary.

The veteran SeeDs salute, understanding completely. I have no worries for them; they'll probably come out without even a scratch.

"Quistis, Zell, you're to go with those twelve. If you get separated, or if you get into trouble, Selphie is waiting with the Ragnarok where she dropped us off." I nod to a group of twelve, a mixture of rookies and veterans. They nod and go to join their group, leading them off in one direction to scout that area for the entrance to the underground system. "Seifer, you and I are with this group."

He looks them over, an eyebrow raised. "Nice, I get to work with the kiddies."

"They aren't any younger or less experienced than the other group." I shrug slightly.

He just bats my answer away with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. 'Least you didn't put me on a team with the chickenwuss."

"Zell is a good squad leader," I frown at him for suggesting otherwise in front of the newer SeeDs.

"He's still chickenwuss."

I roll my eyes at him and turn to my squad. "Follow me as closely as you can, try not to get separated, and back each other up with healing items. If you find yourself separated from everyone else, head back to the Ragnarok with whatever information you have. Anything could be important, so keep an eye out."

We advance into the area that other SeeDs have already marked out on the map as probable for the entrance to the underground without many problems. The other members of the squad are not as cautious as Seifer and I, but they follow my lead.

There aren't many landmarks around here, unless you count rocks, so I'm focused on remembering the direction back to the Ragnarok. Only a couple of the SeeDs with us are really good trackers, and I don't expect many of them have brilliant senses of direction, so it's best to be cautious.

"Commander," someone says, nervously, and I turn to them. "There are monsters -"

"Torama!" another one hisses, clenching their fists.

Seifer turns as well, Hyperion flashing in the sunlight. Neither of us is there in time to stop the monster knocking out one of the newer SeeDs, but he's there in time to stop it from getting another, forcing it back with a quick slash. I pause to throw a quick cure spell at the girl and then I join Seifer, the other SeeDs remaining behind us.

"There's a small army of the fucking things," he says, tensely.

"Right."

"You don't think now would be a good time to retreat?" He looks at me like I'm crazy, jumping forward to slice the torama again. I heft Lionheart, running forward and delivering a series of strikes.

One down, many more to go.

"We have to at least _try_ to find the entrance, and with this many monsters, it must be around here _somewhere_."

"You have no idea how paranoid these people are, Squally-boy. I'm willing to bet we're at least half a mile away from it." He doesn't stop, though, Hyperion rising and falling much as Lionheart is. "But we'll do this if you say so, _Commander_."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence."

"You're welcome, prettyboy."

It's not the first time I've ever thought it, but Seifer and I do make a good team when we aren't focusing on fighting each other. We did in Dollet, even if we didn't like each other at all, and that is only more obvious now that we're better, more experienced fighters.

Strangely, I'm enjoying this fight, being on the same team as Seifer.

But now isn't the time to think about that, I can examine my feelings later. Now, we fight.

* * *

**Zell POV**

"Patrolling this area is useless, Quisty, there are no monsters so if Seifer is right, we're nowhere near." I cast a look at her and she nods, still looking around.

"That's assuming that Seifer was telling the _truth_."

"You don't believe him?" This is the first I've heard of _that_. I know that Squall does, and I assumed that Quisty did too…

She catches my look and shrugs her shoulders. "He hasn't done anything to make me trust him, and I'm not sure why Squall is so trusting of him. If this was my responsibility, Seifer would be locked up somewhere safe. He might be a traitor."

Seifer? A traitor? I didn't think of that. I figure that if Seifer is going to try and take Squall down, he'll do it man to man and with gunblades, not treachery. He might not be the nicest guy around, and I don't like him, but I figure if he's got – or had, whatever - all these dreams of being a knight then he must follow some code of honour as well.

Or is that just a fairytale? Who knows, and who the hell cares? As long as he's telling the truth. The only thing that's important is to figure out if he _is_ telling the truth, not the reasons why he would or wouldn't.

Squall thinks he's being honest. And if he's wrong, well… Squall can deal with that crisis, that's his _job._ He knows what he's doing, and it's not for us to question his decisions.

It's not that I don't want to think for myself. But I trust Squall and I think he knows what he's doing a hell of a lot better than I do. I'm not exactly famed for thinking before I act, but Squall thinks almost _too much_ before he acts.

So that's why I trust him to have made the right decision.

"Maybe we should go and see how Squall's squad is doing?"

Quistis clicks her tongue impatiently. "Don't be stupid, Zell. We haven't finished our search ground yet."

"I really don't think we're going to find anything."

"If we don't, then we can go and look for Squall's squad. But if we don't search thoroughly, we might miss some kind of entrance." She huffs softly, and I know better than to take this any further.

I resist saying 'I told you so' as we come to the edge of our search area without a monster or an entrance in sight. She looks slightly pissed off. Quistis is beautiful when she's angry, but I certainly don't want to provoke her into _really_ being angry.

"I think Seifer was lying to us," she says softly, not within earshot of the other SeeDs.

"I don't think so," I shake my head. I have a feeling… "We should go and find the other squad, though."

"You're right. Something might have happened." She looks worried, too. We've all gained a sense for danger, I guess.

We hurry. As we head in the direction of the other squad's area, we come across a few stragglers from Squall's squad. Quistis stops to talk to them, but I carry on.

The sight that meets my eyes when I finally come across their squad is sickening, unsettling, and amazing all at once.

Sickening, because of the piles of monster bodies the two of them have left behind them.

Unsettling because, well, it turns the world upside down to see them fighting together instead of against one another.

Amazing because of how well they work as a team, every movement of one complimenting the other's moves.

I might almost call it art.

I shake my head quickly to dispel that and throw myself into it beside them, still feeling a little awed at the sheer power of those two. I'm always aware of Squall's superiority, his levels have always been far above the rest of us, but this time, seeing him and Seifer fighting almost makes me feel like I should never even step onto a battlefield.

"Hey, chicky!" Seifer grins at me, pausing for a second. "Make sure you don't wet your pants in fear."

I might think he's awesome in battle, but I still hate this bastard.

I bare my teeth at him and lose myself in the rhythm of the battle, losing myself into it. I see Quistis arriving from the corner of my eye and before long I can hear her whip cracking, dealing its own damage.

I keep fighting, consumed by the energy of it all, until Quistis's hand lands on my shoulder, "Zell! Squall ordered us to withdraw."

As I turn to face her, probably the most stupid thing I've done all day, I'm hit across the head by whatever monster I was just trying to kill, and the last thing I see before all goes black is Quistis's whip snapping past me, presumably to kill the monster that struck me.


	5. Conversation

This chapter is a little bit of action plot furthering, a little bit of (finally) the romance plot. Smut comes soon, I suppose, and I'll be linking off to that:)

As always, thank you for the nice reviews, and for being wonderful fans. :p Hope this chapter pleases.

My darling wasn't too picky over this, but she may add some more thoughts when I speak to her again, so there may be an edit. But I doubt that the edit will change anything of the plot, so read away. :)

* * *

**Selphie POV**

I jump up as Squall comes out of the infirmary, immediately asking after Zell. "How is he?"

"A little concussed," he says, rolling his eyes in that typical Squall expression. "But he is fine. And we have the information we want, too."

"Oh?"

Seifer looks interested as well, looking up at Squall. He doesn't take his eyes off Squall even when Quistis comes out of the infirmary, nodding, and explaining. "One of the new SeeDs found something that we think is the entrance when she fell. She's got a broken arm, but she should be able to talk to us about it soon."

"That's good!" Seifer winces slightly at the chirpiness of my voice, but he doesn't comment. His eyes are _still_ on Squall. I frown a little, "Seifer, did you get hurt today?"

"What?" He looks at me, startled, "Hurt? 'Course not."

"You seem… distracted."

Squall moves over to him, a look of concern on his face. "You _did_ get hit pretty often…"

"What the fuck? I'm fine, really. I didn't get hit seriously at all." He stands, and their eyes meet for a moment. Squall looks genuinely worried. I wonder why. I'll have to find out later – I'd never ask him actually in front of Seifer, because that'd just be stupid. But it's weird, seeing that he does seem to care about the man he is supposed to hate.

Quistis meets my eyes, apparently thinking the same things, and shrugs. Neither of us would ask him now, and I doubt either of us will _quite_ have the guts to ask him later, either. Squall can be pretty intimidating when he wants to be. That silence counts as intimidation.

The infirmary door opens again and a girl comes out, her arm in a sling. It must be the girl who has the information we need. Poor girl, she looks shy and uncomfortable as she faces her Commander, who doesn't have a single scratch on him.

He attempts a smile – I wouldn't call it a smile, but Squall's smiles aren't like a regular human's. It's something much more subtle. One day, we'll have him smiling like a normal human being.

"Are you ready to talk to us now, or would you like some time alone to rest a little?" he asks her, his voice devoid of emotion, unthreatening. He needs to be a little friendlier, but at least he isn't pulling the old strong and silent act on the poor girl.

"I'm ready," she nods, lifting her chin and chancing a slight smile, still managing to look very serious and small and shy. She'll make a good SeeD someday, I bet, and if people could persuade her, she could be great fun. I offer her a grin, and her smile intensifies a little.

Not many people can resist my grin.

"Come this way, then," Quistis says; all business and seriousness. That girl and Quistis are two chips from the same block, I swear.

But then, Quistis can go _wild_ when she feels like it. I know it; I've seen her at a club.

I bet most people wouldn't believe that though. She _was_ drunk, I'll admit… and that _was_ my fault, but honestly, Quistis needed to have a little fun for once. She lets things get to her too easily, but refuses to show it. She's just around to 'carry out Squall's orders' or something like that, so she says, anyway.

We follow Quistis, Seifer walking beside Squall. They seem so comfortable with each other; it's hard to believe that they used to fight so hard, that there was ever any rivalry between them.

In fact, it looks as if they could end up being friends. I bound up in between them, grinning. They'll hate me for chattering at them – I won't say _to_ them, because they'll just sort of absorb my words and mostly ignore me – but, of course, that's never stopped me.

"Hey! I saw you two fighting. You make an awesome team!"

Seifer ignores me, and Squall shrugs. It's like talking to a pair of walls.

"Tsk, tsk, it's not polite to ignore a lady."

"Lady? Where?" Seifer asks, a glimmer of humour in his face.

"That was an easy one," I scold, "You need to think of something _original_."

"Sorry, we're all out of the great Almasy humour at the moment," he shrugs, "You'll have to be content with second best."

Squall snorts softly, quickening his pace to walk with Quistis, leaving me with Seifer. "How are you?"

"Great," he says, a little sarcastic, "I'm under twenty four hour guard, I just came off a battlefield and half the world wants to kill me. But I'm fine."

"Good!" I choose to ignore his sarcasm.

He rolls his eyes at me, and proceeds to ignore me all the way to the empty classroom where we all sit down to listen to what the girl has to say.

"I fell and… there was a bit of hollow ground beneath me, so since we were looking for tunnels, I listened." She turns to Squall, giving him a weak smile, "I think I heard voices, sir."

"Would you be able to show us that spot again?"

After a moment's hesitation, she nods.

Squall does that thing that he calls a smile. "We won't be asking you to come with us when we actually try to get in. But I want you to take Selphie Tilmitt to see the entrance for her to mark it for us. Could you do that?"

The girl nods and I jump up again, going over to her, putting an arm around her waist and squeezing gently. "Great! We'll wait for your arm to mend a little before we try it, though. What weapon do you have?"

"A gun," she says, shyly, "I have a lighter one I can use one handed…"

"Great!" I say again, starting to feel like a repeating record, "We can go whenever you've rested up and you're ready for it, then."

She smiles and turns to Squall, waiting to be dismissed. He sighs and gives her a salute, nodding. "Dismissed."

"Permission for us to go, too, Commander?" Quistis asks him, teasing gently.

"Get out," he says, pretending to be scowling.

* * *

**Seifer POV**

"You really get on well with them, don't you?" I raise an eyebrow at Squall as the heroes for hire traipse on out. There's a teasing, playful dynamic just starting to show between them, and it makes me curious. He seems close to them, in a way he's rarely, if ever, seemed.

He shrugs. "I guess so."

So much for conversation. Apathetic bastard. Why do I even want to have a conversation with him?

I stand up, "I guess we're going back to your office? Assuming that you're still my guard dog, even though I've been proved right so far."

"I still have to keep an eye on you," he agrees. "But I thought we could stay in here for a while, since I don't have any work to do."

"And do… what?"

"Talk?" he asks, eyebrow raised.

He _does_ things like this? Could've fooled me. "About what, Squally-boy? In case you hadn't noticed, you just blanked the conversation I was trying to start."

"Actually, about something specifically." He bites his lip briefly, the blood bleaching from it for a moment and flooding back in brighter when he stops biting.

Okay, he's not just pretty, he's fucking hot. I admit it.

"Oh?"

"Why were you looking at me earlier?" His eyes narrow a little, sharp and questioning. And, damn me, I can't look away. I don't know when this happened, when I started wanting more of him, but I don't think it's just a momentary thing and, fuck, he picked up on it almost before I figured it out myself.

"Why shouldn't I?" I shrug, try to keep this light. I'm not ready to say anything more, not sure I even want to say anything more.

He shrugs, withdrawing again. "Fine, I'm sorry. Let's go back to my office."

There's almost… disappointment in the way that he says that, and suddenly I can't bear to see it; don't want to waste this chance. What if it never comes again? My hand falls on his arm, restraining him. "Wait."

"Something you want to say?" He raises an eyebrow.

"I was looking at you because…" Because I want to kiss you, touch you, hold you, because I want you. Not that I know why, but I want to. And I'm only telling you because I feel like I should… just in case you might want it too.

How do you say that to someone who you've fought all your life?

"Because?" Does he not know how annoying that questioning eyebrow is?

I use my hold on his arm to pull him closer, determined to get _something_ of what I'm feeling across to him. "Because I want to…"

He's still looking at me with that annoying look, not pulling away as I thought he might have, not yanking his arm free and pushing me away. So I do what comes naturally at this moment.

I kiss him.

I keep my eyes open to watch his reaction. His eyes widen, almost shooting wide open, before falling lightly closed as he kisses back. I wrap an arm round his back, pulling him closer into a loose embrace, giving him space to push me away if he wants.

Why the hell am I doing this?

Amazingly, he doesn't push me away. He pulls me closer, pulling back from the kiss and opening his eyes, looking straight into mine.

I thought the anger in his eyes made me feel at home. But that look, now… I don't just feel comfortable and at home. I feel _wanted_. By Squall, yes, but in a way, he's always meant a lot to me, more than anyone else. It was important that he thought I was a good fighter, and now…

Shit, I don't know. All I know is, kissing Squall Leonhart feels damn good, and I really should have done this before instead of kicking his ass all the time.

Of all the things I ever envisioned happening, this was _not_ one of them. But it feels… logical. Like it should have happened before.

"You wanted to kiss me?" he asks, uncertainly, without that detested raised eyebrow.

"Yeah." I pull him closer. "Yeah, I did."

"Do it again?" He's smirking slightly now.

"With pleasure."


	6. Interruption

Heyhey! This was going to be smut, but the boys decided not to co-operate. I've decided that any smut I write for this fic will not be an actual chapter, but a spin off sort of thing. I'll tell you if it ever gets done, it'll be on my public LJ, of course.

This chapter hasn't been read by my darling yet, but never fear, I'm sure she will read it. Soon.

* * *

**Squall POV**

"You wanted to kiss me?"

"Yeah." He nods slightly, his arms wrapping around me, pulling me closer to him while I try not to think beyond the moment. Damn it, shut _up, _Squall, this is what you want, quit over analysing it. "Yeah, I did." There's a touch of surprise in his voice that makes me wonder.

But I smile slightly anyway, quite happy with that answer. "Do it again?"

"With pleasure," he says softly, his eyes caressing my face for a moment before meeting mine and closing as he leans forward.

The kiss starts off gentle, like the first, until his tongue sneaks out, trailing along my lower lip. My mouth opens to him without me even thinking about it, and he groans softly, his arms tightening around me even more, crushing me to him. And I don't even mind, pressing closer, wanting more of his taste, his touch, his scent.

It feels like… since he's been back, he's got under my skin. No, that's wrong. He's always been under my skin, an itch I couldn't quite scratch… this is a better way to 'scratch' it than fighting, I think.

He pulls back a little, his green eyes for once not teasing, or cynical, or indifferent, or angry. Just… caring. Caring. For me. It's an emotion I've rarely seen on him, and _never_ aimed at me before. "Are you okay?" he asks, smiling slightly and still looking at me, his gaze intense.

"Yeah, I'm… fine." The way he's looking at me is too distracting. I lean up a little to kiss him again, and his arms wrap tighter around my waist, holding me. It's funny, but it would feel wrong to be doing this if it was anyone else. I can't imagine with Rinoa, or Quistis, or…

He smirks slightly when I pull back, breaking the kiss. "I can take a hint. Don't want to talk about it right now?"

I shrug; because I don't know what I feel about all this, it's just… I want him and it feels good, right, nice. That's enough to know for now. Normally, I'd ask this to death, but right now, with him, I don't _want_ to. I feel something for him, and he seems to feel something for me, so let it lie, for now.

We can talk later.

He strips off his gloves, his bare hand settling on my face, thumb stroking my cheekbone. His hands are softer than might be expected for a gunblade specialist, the lack of calluses a surprise, but it's more or less the same for my hands – the leather takes a lot of the strain from the skin. Without the gloves, unless your hands have toughened up a lot, handling a gunblade _hurts_. Especially when your hands dry up and flake and split in the freezing cold.

He looks about to say something, but then he just bends his head slightly, kissing me again. I've never hated the six inches or so of height between us so much as now, pushing up a little on the balls of my feet to kiss him more comfortably.

His hands slide round, holding onto my hips to steady me for a moment, his tongue in my mouth distracting me wonderfully from the vague ache my feet are noting. One hand shifts, creeping up my t-shirt, just resting against the warm skin of my stomach.

I clench my hands in the fabric of his shirt, dragging him hard against me. He smirks slightly as he breaks the kiss; the smirk twisting his mouth while his eyes remain soft.

"You're blushing," he says, laughter in his tone.

"Am not." That statement makes me feel sulky.

"Now you're being childish."

This time I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him down to me.

I'm not even sure what I'm doing, everything just a warm pleasant haze, kissing, touching, tasting, until his hands are tugging at my shirt, bringing cool to my skin and to my heat hazed thinking, slicing through the fog with one unwelcome thought.

"Seifer. Stop."

"What?" He pulls back, tilting his head to the side, questioning. And slightly hurt, too.

"There's a class in here in… ten minutes." I calm my breathing as he utters a soft curse. But he won't let me go so soon. He drags me closer, holding me tight.

"So practical," he teases lightly, kissing my forehead. If I were anyone else, he'd probably say to hell with the class and do me right here. But I'm me, and he knows I'd kick up a fuss if he tried.

Suddenly, I'm afraid of that tenderness in his eyes, and how well he knows me. Afraid of the feeling it invokes in me in answer. I won't… push him away, but I want some time on my own to think things through. I hope he'll understand if I just tell him so. Bluntness and honesty can be a good thing in a… relationship. A relationship? Shit. I really do need to think this through.

Although some part of my brain seems to think that a relationship with my former rival who I nearly killed on various occasions and who nearly killed me several times is perfectly normal. A stark contrast to the objections it had against Rinoa.

"I want… some time on my own."

He nods after a moment, obviously understanding, but reluctant. "Going to dump me on Quistis, I guess?"

"She won't be happy about it, but Selphie will be busy… unless you want to spend some quality time with Zell?" I raise my eyebrow, finding it all too easy to be comfortable with Seifer. To talk to him as if this… whatever it is, between us, is something normal…

Not that it isn't 'normal', just not… Ah, I wish I could find words easier. But I've never been good at that.

"With chicky? Fuck no. I'll put up with Quistis for a while." He shrugs, then gestures to the door, "After you."

I roll my eyes and head for the door, and he follows right behind me. Before I open it, he puts his arms around me, holding me still. His breath hits the back of my neck, warm and ticklish. "Hey, Squall… don't think_ too_ much, okay?"

I nod again, but he doesn't yet release me.

"Don't dismiss this too lightly, either," he says, very quiet now. "I don't know why it happened, but it's not nothing to me. I want to see where it's going."

"I won't. I don't do anything meaningless," I tell him quietly, because this seems to matter to him. Confused as I am, I don't want him hurting.

And then he releases me, the bite of sarcasm returning to his voice. "Lead on, oh great Commander."

* * *

**Seifer POV**

Damn… I… Fuck, I really hate this. Squall Leonhart has me tangled up in feelings like a fucking girl. He needs to think, I need to think, but all that crosses my mind is that I really, really hope that he's thinking what I'm thinking.

That we'd make a good couple.

Seriously, I'm acting like a fucking girl.

Time to distract myself. Lucky I have the resident whip wielding blonde around to take my mind off things… If she's being better company than she was before, anyway. "Hey, Quisty."

"What?" She looks up, her voice sharp. Whoa, slow down there, girly. I'm not all bad, I promise.

"What happened to Squall and Rinoa in the end? I thought they were into the whole Sorceress and Knight fairy tale crap?" I lean back in my chair, throwing my booted feet up on to rest on her desk.

"You haven't heard?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't ask if I knew, Blondie."

She shrugs. "There's not really much to tell. Squall thinks too much, Rinoa got tired of waiting, she left him."

"Tell me something I don't know, about the thinking too much, I mean." I can't help muttering. Yes, I'm sulking. So?

Quistis shrugs again. I'm getting tired of seeing her being so indifferent. The Quistis who was my instructor would certainly have noticed and probably commented on my sulks. "What's up with you, Quisty?"

"Nothing's wrong," she says, a little too sharply. I cross my arms in front of my chest, raise an eyebrow, and wait. After a moment, a sigh escapes. "I'm not sure I'm doing this job as well as I should be. Squall puts a lot of trust in me and…" She remembers who she's talking to, and just trails off.

"Trust me, Quisty, even if I _did_ work for the rebellion, they don't want to know about your angst." I wave a hand, getting sick of her paranoia. "And as for doubting yourself, Squall knows what you're capable of. He'd never overwork anyone except himself, and you know it."

She just heaves a sigh of pure frustration, pushing the work away. After a moment, she looks up at me. "You know, when Rinoa left, I guess I thought me and Squall could… be something. But he was never interested in me at all, was he?"

Oh. _That's_ what this is about. And I can't reassure her because, well, I was just in that classroom _kissing _the Ice Prince himself. He might not be mine, but I'm damn sure he's not interested in Quistis one bit. I won't go giving her false hope.

"I don't think he's interested in anyone. You know him… reigning princess of emotional detachment."

That brings a faint smile to her face, and she nods, pulling her work back to her. "Still, would it hurt to try?"

I wish I could tell her it would. But she looks so hopeful… I just shrug.

Damn, when did I start giving a shit about this lot, anyway? Probably about the same time those stupid creeping feelings for Squall got in. Going soft in my old age, I guess.

She pauses again, then, giving me a careful look, she speaks softly. "Do you think Squall is gay?"

If I hadn't been kissing him earlier, I'm sure I would have spluttered, choked and gasped out a 'no' through laughter. Or maybe not, but I'd certainly be more shocked than now.

Quistis is, apparently, still the observant Instructor I knew. I had thought she'd dimmed a little, not noticing Squall's inclinations, but no. She's still all there, just deluding herself.

I guess I'm not one to talk. I managed to delude myself that a fairytale could come true. But life doesn't work that way.

But, truthfully, I answer her with a shrug and a soft 'don't know'. He could be bisexual, or just playing with my head, or… secretly a woman… hell, I don't know.

"You're gay though, aren't you?" she asks, tilting her head a little. I could swear that is a smug, teasing smile on her face. Better than depression anyway.

But this time, I do splutter a little. "How the hell do you know? No, wait, I don't want to know. It's probably one of those woman things."

"Not that you know anything about women." Oh yes, that is definitely a smug smile.


	7. Decision

Whoa. One very exhausted writer checking in. If anyone's interested in my progress for the challenge I'm writing for (60k words in a month), I'm a little behind, my novel is being one huge bitch to me, and this fic is being slow and stubborn. Seifer and Squall don't seem to like the fact that they haven't got any yet. ;) What I have got done is this, a short story that will _hopefully_ be published and a fifth of a rewrite of my novel.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. My darling sister/beta reader/best friend/partner in crime (pick one!) hasn't read this yet, so... as always, there might be edits.

* * *

**Seifer POV**

I try not to be disappointed when he doesn't talk to me. After all, I haven't seen him since yesterday – I camped out on Quisty's _floor_ last night – that is, unless you count dreams, and now the whole gang is here. Not exactly the best time to start talking about our feelings, even for someone as open as me.

But I do receive a look and a smile that makes me feel suddenly a lot more hopeful. He's all business and Commander again within a second, but I _know_ I saw that look and there's nobody else he would give it to.

I hope.

He nods to Selphie, asking her to speak in that silent language of his, and the energetic girl bounds up, waving at us. "Hey, guys! Medea – the SeeD who found the entrance – showed me where we have to go, and I've scouted it out. I think she was right, so we have to prepare for an expedition – Squall?"

She hands over to him gracefully, sitting down again with a thump.

He stands up, looking every bit the proud, confident Commander he's supposed to be. I don't remember ever seeing Squall quite like this. If I were a girl, I'd admit that seeing him like that gives me butterflies. But I'm not a girl, and it doesn't. Really.

Okay. Little butterflies. The type of butterflies you get when you see someone you really want and you think you're going to get them.

Yeah, I'm acting like a girl. Shit.

He doesn't look at me, and that allows me to calm my hormones and just appreciate the view while _trying_ to focus on his words. Funny how just yesterday I wouldn't even think twice about fucking Squall – well, maybe I would have, but I wouldn't have been this obvious, hell, I was in denial even to myself – and now it's the _only_ thing I can think about.

"I don't know what we'll face once we're through that entrance. Judging from the size, we're going to have to be a small team, well accustomed to working together."

"That rules me out, then," I raise an eyebrow.

"Nuh-uh! You and Squall work well together!" Selphie chimes in. Oh, that, right. Should have known Squall wouldn't stop me from fighting. I have my badass reputation to kill, after all. And maybe he has his reasons for wanting people to know I'm innocent. Well, not innocent, but… not completely at fault.

He continues; the thread of his thought barely interrupted by the exchange. "I want to make two teams of three to go in first. I called Galbadia Garden earlier, and Irvine will be joining us again. That makes the teams me, Quistis and Seifer, and Zell, Selphie and Irvine."

Selphie whoops a little at hearing that Irvine will be here, getting up and bouncing with excitement. "Is that all?"

"No," he says, coolly amused. "Sit down, Selphie."

She sits.

"The ideal thing would be to get in and get out without being noticed at all. The odds on that actually happening are virtually nil. This means we're going to have to kill on sight, or take captives." He folds his arms in front of his chest, his bangs hanging down into his intense grey-blue eyes. "That's up to your squad at the time, but one or two captives could be useful."

"Question. Why are we being so cautious about this? Why don't we just annihilate them?"

Squall looks at me. "We could. But I'm interested to find out more about them before we just crush them."

"Makes sense," Quistis says, with a nod, "Then we'll find out how they intend to take over Garden."

"Right."

Should've remembered that Garden is always his prime concern. Mind you, the thought of this place being in the wrong hands doesn't sit too well with me, either.

Before anything else can happen, there's a knock on the door and a girl comes in. She looks vaguely familiar in her uniform, with one arm bound up and in a sling…

"Sir," she says, lifting her chin, "I wish to make a request. I want to come with you."

Oh, that girl. Medea. The girl who found the entrance.

I'm not very surprised at her request, actually. She's a SeeD, she must like these missions at least a little, and she probably wants to see this mission right through to the end.

"You can't," he tells her, a little more gently than I expected, "You still have a broken arm."

She looks over at Selphie appealingly, "But I did _fine_ when I showed you the entrance!"

"You did," Selphie says, doubtfully, "But we have our teams set up and there's no room for you."

"Permission to at least come with you and wait outside with another team, sir?" She looks over at Squall again.

He hesitates. He never does like changing his plans when they're already sorted out. But apparently he's not immune to puppy dog eyes. He nods. "Get a squad – a _good_ squad – together. You will be the squad leader. I expect you to handle things well. We'll be meeting again here in three hours, be ready for then."

Quistis looks about to object, but then she closes her mouth. Trusting Squall's judgement. She always used to interrupt him, in training scenarios, and get him to rethink. And he'd always be right in the end.

I think she's remembering that now.

I always admired him for that ability to quickly analyse a situation and come to the right decision, and stick by it, and prove that he was right. I act quickly, as well, but with me there's a chance I'll get things wrong, since I just work on pure impulse.

Squall can probably justify every single decision he's ever made.

Except maybe one.

The way he drew back after we'd been kissing yesterday makes me wonder how much he thought over that situation. Apparently not too much, or he wouldn't have had any regrets at all.

Though I _am_ sure that his smiles are perfectly calculated to reassure me, as, indeed, they have. I'm not sure if he intended to bring on the not-butterflies, too, but you never know with Squall.

* * *

**Squall POV**

I can feel Seifer's eyes on me, watching me, the whole time, and for some reason, it doesn't bother me. I even, somehow, enjoy the fact that he can't seem to look away from me.

I've come to the conclusion that somehow I don't think Seifer is setting out to hurt me, and he's not the type to do something he doesn't mean. I don't know whether that means we'll have a relationship, and I'm positive I'm more trouble than I'm worth in relationships, but I want to give things a try.

Medea nods to me, turns and leaves the room, and with a sigh, I turn back to the others. "Are we all clear now?"

Zell, Selphie and Quistis all nod agreement, but Seifer snorts softly. "I have one question."

"What?"

"Who is going to baby-sit me until then?"

"I will, if you want me to, Squall!" Selphie offers cheerfully.

The look of fear on Seifer's face makes me want to laugh. I'm tempted to take Selphie up on that offer, just to see his face then, but maybe he would think of that as a rejection, so used to my tactics of avoidance. And rejecting him is just about the last thing I want to do, at least for now.

"It's okay, I don't mind now. As long as he behaves himself." I allow a touch of humour to creep into my voice, and get amused looks from the girls and Zell, and a raised eyebrow from the slightly insulted Seifer.

"Well, if you're sure…" Quistis stands up, saluting me, as always. She does that just to taunt me; I've _told_ her she doesn't have to.

"Just go already," Seifer says, rolling his eyes and standing up as well.

"Eager to get the Commander on his own, huh?" Selphie asks with a wink. She's joking, but no doubt she's really quite close to the truth.

Seifer grins, "Oh yeah."

_He_ isn't joking.

But once they're gone, the light hearted look disappears and comes to stand next to me, just a little closer than I would maybe have liked before. But this isn't before.

"Come to some conclusions?" he asks, quirking an eyebrow, completely serious.

I've never been good with words; I think I've said that before. So I step forward, close to him again, and kiss him. He responds eagerly, wrapping his arms around me.

He chuckles softly as he pulls back. "So, Squally-boy, what is that supposed to mean?" He pushes my hair back, tucking it behind my ears, the gesture more gentle than I might have expected from him.

I glare at him for asking the obvious.

"Hey, I just want some confirmation, okay?" His mouth twists in his ever familiar smirk, a more taunting note coming into his voice to disguise the fact that he actually cares. Idiot. "Want me to make it easier for you?"

I don't answer, just step back a little and meet his eyes steadily.

He sighs. "Look, do you want to be with me, Squall? It's that easy. Yes or no."

"Yes." Silently, I add, 'of course'.

He smiles, not a smirk, but a smile. I could definitely get used to seeing him honestly smiling more often. "Good." He pulls me closer, holding me close. "Good," he says again, tilting my head up and kissing me again, his voice very soft, "Very good, even."

"Shut up." I interrupt his stupid babbling, reaching up to wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him down to me, and I just kiss him, parting my mouth against his invitingly. He mumbles something like 'fucking butterflies' against my mouth, deepening the kiss.

Neither of us pull back from the kiss or move from that perfect, close embrace, for a long time. And when I do pull back, it isn't far, my lips still almost brushing his.

"No reason to rush this," he says softly, leaning his forehead against mine. And then the smirk touches his lips again. "Besides, we have a mission in, how long did you say? Three hours?"

"Three hours. When this is over… will you stay at Garden?"

He hesitates.

"You don't have to," I say, already pulling away a little.

He tightens his arms around me, a half angry look crossing his face as he pulls me back close. "You idiot, I'll stay for your sake, but people don't like me here, that's all. You're the only one who _wants_ me here. Don't you dare go thinking I'm going to leave you. I remember how bitchy you got when Ellone left the Orphanage."

I stiffen slightly in his arms, "You remember?"

"Of course." He smiles slightly, brushes my hair out of my face again, "Just little things, though."

"I don't remember much."

"I don't think any of us do." He shrugs. Apparently, it doesn't bother him. "It's a shame, but we've already got over it. Now," his eyes fill with teasing warmth, "since everything's all sorted out, your insecurities included, can we get back to the kissing part?"

"You were the one looking insecure earlier," I raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well." He has the grace to look a little embarrassed.

"Since we've got three hours… do you want to go outside Garden for a while?"

He looks pleased at the suggestion. "That would be nice."

"Come on then."


	8. Between points

Hey all! Yeah, I'm back, and it's another cute romancy chapter - but it's one that (finally?) links us back to the action plot. And, by the way, the reactions of the newer SeeDs in this story are all mostly spawned from seeing my own air cadet section about to fly for the first time. The look on my own face must have been priceless, I know - in the air force, and I'm afraid of heights. But that's an aside.

This hasn't been read by my darling yet, so... as always, there may be an edit later. She hasn't been pointing out anything recently, so, either I'm getting better or she's getting lazy.

* * *

**Seifer POV**

I always used to like getting out of Garden occasionally when I was in training here, and I still like it now, especially walking at Squall's side. We came out here together sometimes then, too, to have the occasional 'friendly' spar.

About as friendly as a pack of wolves, but we never intended to hurt each other.

He holds Hyperion out to me. "I thought you might like a short sparring match in practice for later."

"I don't need practice." I take it from him anyway. "Are you going to quit taking Hyperion off me now?"

"I think _I've_ said that to _you_ before. And your answer was some crap about everyone needing to practice. And it's Quistis's fault, if I got my way we wouldn't have taken Hyperion from you in the first place."

"Steady there, princess." I offer him a smile. "One, I'm the exception that proves the rule, and two, I didn't say I wouldn't practice with you."

He gives me one of his looks, pulling out Lionheart. "Then you will?"

"Of course. You've always been my favourite sparring partner."

"I wonder why," he murmurs, rolling his eyes and stepping into a ready stance.

It's easy to fall into a rhythm with him. Taunt him until he charges, side step and counter slash. Gunblades meet, push the lighter body back, lock the blades together for some minutes before spinning away, slashing again and meeting with a flurry of sparks.

There's nothing to match a good fight. Well, maybe a good orgasm, but you get my general point. The adrenaline, the concentration, the knowledge of having a worthy opponent – there's nothing quite like that.

Squall's face is quite the sight to see, as well. He can't always keep his barriers up, especially not when concentrating on a fight as much as he is this one. His eyes are intense, seething with emotion. If only I had the time to stop and look into them. He wouldn't let me, though, and by the time this fight is over and we're both sweating, panting for breath and chilled by the breeze, he'll have closed down again.

It's a pity. But I can think of one other way to get him looking like that. Something I should try, someday soon…

I curse silently as he gains the advantage, forcing me back a little. No time to daydream, Almasy. Squall will never spar at half strength to accommodate you.

He seems to know what I'm thinking, his mouth curving up into a smile that is almost a smirk. Probably he thinks it is a smirk. He's not too gifted with facial expressions, it has to be said.

A clash, and a scrape and whine of metal and we're face to face again, locked in position, so close with the blades between our bodies that I could kiss him.

"To hell with sparring," I breathe to him, trying not to shatter the moment as I pull back, separating the two blades.

"Can't concentrate?" he asks with a knowing smile.

"My sparring partner is too damn hot for his own good." I smirk right back at him, putting Hyperion down carefully.

I catch the faintest hint of embarrassment from him as he puts Lionheart down with a little ring of metal against stone. "Whatever."

I find a comfortable spot to sit and beckon him. He comes willingly enough, sitting down near me, but not near enough. So, naturally, I move closer and hug him from behind so that he's sitting between my legs.

He sighs softly and leans back against me a little, not saying a word. I rub my nose against his hair, tightening my arms around him.

"Do you mind doing things like this?"

"No," he says, and the tone of his voice tells me he's raised an eyebrow in his 'whatever do you mean' expression.

I think there's such thing as knowing him too well.

"Just, you never seemed to like people touching you."

He snorts softly, "I let you kiss me but I wouldn't let you hold me? Both involve touching."

"True." I shake my head at his logic. Always cool headed to the point of indifference. "But do you _like_ me touching you?"

There's a slightly longer pause. I guess he struggles with embarrassment or with lack of words to say it. I almost don't catch the slight nod, but he clarifies it instantly anyway. "Yeah, I do."

I bring my hand up, tracing his lips gently, and I can feel his smile against my fingers as he kisses them lightly.

I hold him quietly for a few minutes more, maybe longer, I don't know. It's nice to be outside, the heat of his body – so warm, for one outwardly so cold – keeping the chill of the breeze from me. And nice, of course, to have him in my arms. I never thought it would be like this between us... but I like it.

"We should go inside," he says, after a while. "I need to pick up some things."

I just tighten my arms around him, nuzzling his neck and nibbling gently on his earlobe. "Do we have to?"

He gasps softly, distracted, but still pushes away from me and stands, a little teasing grin on his face. "Never pictured you being the cuddly type."

"Takes the right person and boom, I'm an instant romantic."

"Am I the right person?" he asks, half shyly, his eyelashes lowering a little, his amazing eyes looking up at me through them.

"I think you know that already," I give him a lopsided grin and that faint hint of embarrassment takes over his face again.

"Idiot," he tells me. But he doesn't mean it.

* * *

**Quistis POV**

Squall and Seifer come in together, both looking relaxed – Seifer wearing a grin on his face. They've obviously been outside, and both are carrying their gunblades openly. Ah, perhaps they've been sparring then.

I stand up, salute almost out of habit. Squall waves it away with a roll of his eyes. "Everyone ready?"

Medea, the young SeeD, and her little group stand, eager to be off. Zell grins, punching the air with all his usual energy, and Selphie bounces, letting go of Irvine for perhaps the first time since he arrived.

"Let's go! I'm gonna pilot the Ragnarok!"

"That's a thing to fear," Zell explains to Medea and her group, "But don't worry, she won't crash it. She hasn't yet, anyway."

The girl and her team look a little pale, but Squall smiles his faintly reassuring smile at them and they straighten, determined not to look weak in front of Squall.

It's odd. He's so cold, so indifferent, and yet people are so strongly drawn to him. Me, Rinoa, the students, the SeeDs… even Seifer seems to be. It makes Squall one hell of a good leader.

And he doesn't even really realise it. He doesn't know why people love him so much. Why people fall in love with him. Why I love him.

Maybe he doesn't even know that people _do_ love him.

But we do, and some fools would follow him whether he knows it or not – I'm numbering myself among them, of course. I think if he asked me to follow him to hell, I would, and not just because I love him. I think he'd lead me back, too. I think a lot of SeeDs would say the same.

Squall just can't get rid of that fact. He's a _good_ commander.

It surprises me, as we head out to the Ragnarok, how close he and Seifer are. They're talking together in softer voices – not whispering, but having a normal, quiet conversation.

Normal isn't a word I usually associate with either of my former students.

Selphie is bouncy as always, coming back a little to link her arm with mine, "Something wrong, Quisty?"

"No, why?"

"You look sad," she frowns, pulling back to look at me a little. A teasing note enters her voice, and I appreciate the effort as she tries to cheer me up. "Surely my piloting of the Ragnarok isn't that bad a prospect?"

"Selphie…" I just sigh softly.

"Something really is up, huh?" She gives me a look filled with pity. "If you wanna talk, I'm always willing!"

"Thanks."

"No problem! Don't like to see anyone sad!" She's grinning such a happy, honest grin. I'd swear that girl has sunshine all her life, but that would be demeaning her part in SeeD and battles and so on. She makes it look easy and happy, though.

It's a typical mission atmosphere once we get to the Ragnarok. Selphie skips off to pilot, taking Irvine with her; Squall and Seifer disappear off somewhere and I sit… waiting. Thinking. Too much. Medea and her little group are here too, but they hardly say a word, tense with the strain of a mission.

They'll learn. Soon missions will mean practically nothing to them.

"Where did Squall and Seifer go?" Zell asks me, coming in from wherever he's been haunting. He looks at me, tilts his head. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I stand up. He wouldn't understand what I mean about feeling… unneeded. As if I only exist to Squall when he is giving me orders. As if, outside of missions, I feel as if I mean nothing to everybody.

"Okay…" He gives me an odd look, but shrugs, throwing himself down into a seat. "Where did Squall and Seifer slip off to? They'd better not be 'practising' gunblades on the Ragnarok, I'm sure we can all do without bloodstains…"

I doubt they've been fighting, but I want to talk to Squall sometime before the mission anyway. "I'll go and find them."

"Have fun." He waves a hand nonchalantly, sprawling in his seat. The silence in the room, Zell being lazy and the other, lower ranking SeeDs silent and tense, makes the hiss of the door sound loud as it opens and closes behind me.


	9. Investigation

And, whee, back to proper plot. Lisa _has _read this, so further edits are probably not going to happen.

I apologise if Quistis seems like she's going to come between Seifer and Squall - she bloody isn't. I assure you. :D

Oh. If you want a clue for some plot? It's all in one certain name. ;)

* * *

**Squall POV**

We aren't stupid enough to have Quistis – or anyone else - catch us doing anything together, but she still looks at us, knowing and, for some reason… she looks almost betrayed.

"I wanted to have a quiet word with you," she says quietly, looking at me and not at Seifer, her eyes almost consciously avoiding him.

"Alright, that's my cue to piss off," Seifer says with a roll of his eyes. He gives Quistis a worried look, but she doesn't look back at him. I didn't know they'd even really talked since he came back to Garden, but… maybe. Whatever, it's not really my business anyway.

He goes out, and Quistis turns to me, her eyes cool. It's her professional 'everything is under control' look that clearly says to me that everything _isn't_ under control, but she doesn't want me to worry about it. I doubt she realises how easily I read people, but when someone is silent, they see more, and learn more about people. I wonder what's wrong. But it's not in my nature to just ask her like that; if something was wrong she would tell me.

"What did you want to ask?"

"Why did you let Medea come along?" She's holding herself stiffly. I wonder if that's what she actually intended to ask.

"She's a SeeD, and she offered, and I didn't see why not."

"I see. Not doing it to pay her back for the favour?"

"No. She does deserve some kind of reward, but I wouldn't want to give a SeeD a mission as a reward. What are you worried about?" I narrow my eyes slightly at her.

"Just that your plan has been compromised, that's all." She smiles faintly, a shadow of the smile I know she _can_ smile but so rarely does. I'm not one to talk about smiling and not smiling, though, and I know it, so I won't say a word.

"Not really. I wish there was someone with more experience staying with them, but they fit into my plan perfectly."

"That's alright then," she nods.

Against my better judgement, I speak up, tired of the look in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Everyone is asking me that," she says softly, looking up, the bitterness in her eyes a surprise to me. "_Nothing_ is wrong."

"If you're sure…"

She sighs, and then looks up, changing the subject abruptly. "You and Seifer are together, aren't you?"

I nod, and she lowers her eyes and her voice. "Good luck together, then."

"Thank you."

I haven't missed the reluctance of her luck wishing. Could she…? I hope not.

"Do you love him?" she asks, biting her lip, more curious than I'd expect of her. And, without knowing it, she's clinched it for me. She is in love with one or the other of us. Or thinks she is.

"I don't know."

She hesitates, obviously fighting the urge to say or do something, and then she looks up, smiling a more sincere smile. "I wish you luck in figuring that out, then."

She is right about the mission, though, and as she leaves, I wonder what I can do. The only person I can afford to lose from the well knit team is Seifer. Hopefully he'll take it with good grace…

Although, as I find when I return to the main room and speak to him, apparently he wants to fight at my side and doesn't at all like the idea of being left behind.

"I think it might be better if you stay with Medea's group."

He crosses his arms, staring at me, seeming hurt. "What, don't you trust me?"

"It's not that. You know I do." Has he forgotten that I actually trust him to touch me, despite all that has happened between us in the past?

"What is it then?"

"Can't you just take an order _this once_? I swear I _have_ a reason."

"I'm coming along anyway, unless you can _tell_ me your reason – a good reason – for me to stay with the children." Of course. He has to think of this as an insult to his pride.

"They are not children, far from it. But, fine," I can't help but snap a little, turning to put my back to him, holding in the sharp little shards of unjust anger, "You come with us."

I sense his movement as he nods. The good thing about him is that he will accept the blame when it truly is his. I used to admire him for that.

"I'm sorry, but I want to fight with you." Apologies have always come hard to him, and that one is no exception, muttered as softly as he can while still loud enough for me to hear. "And I thought you want me to redeem myself in people's eyes."

"That's true."

"Am I fucking up your plans?"

"No."

"Good," he breathes a soft sigh, stretching out. "Are we nearly there?"

"Go and ask Selphie."

"Fine. I'll do that." He shrugs, leaving.

Things aren't going to be easy between us. I wouldn't want it that way anyway. We're soldiers, trained to be killers, trained to appreciate a worthy opponent. I think we will always be opponents just as much as partners.

And I don't think I'd like it any other way.

* * *

**Selphie POV**

"Hey, pilot," Seifer pokes me in the back of the head. "How long left? I'm fucking bored."

I raise an eyebrow, not turning to look at him. They might think of me as a daring pilot, but irresponsible I'm not. "Dying to get your ass kicked so soon, Seifer?"

He snorts at the idea of me kicking his ass. "What are you going to? Set an army of munchkins on me?"

Irvine chuckles softly and I reach out to pull his ponytail, still not looking away from what I'm doing. "Shut up, both of you."

"Alright," Seifer says, surprisingly. "Squall sent me though. How much longer is this trip?"

"We're about to land."

"Oh."

"Oh, indeed." Irvine leans forward, looking out over my shoulder. "Lovely," he observes.

"Wonderful indeed," Seifer says, rolling his eyes. "You putting us down close to the entrance?"

"Yes, or we'd never fight through the monsters. Now shut up."

A few minutes of concentration later and I've landed the Ragnarok safely. The SeeD who is here to take care of the Ragnarok is briefed by Squall before he nods to me and we all head off.

We have to wait around as Squall briefs Medea and her group properly on the job we'll be doing. Quistis still looks about as cheerful as a kid whose birthday party has been cancelled. "What _is_ wrong with you?" I ask her, slipping my arm through hers, trying to comfort her with closeness.

"Squall and Seifer are together. Did you know?" she asks, distractedly, trying to keep me off the subject of her depression, I suppose.

"No, I didn't. But you being upset doesn't have anything to do with them, does it?"

She just shrugs. "Just thought you'd want to know."

She's transparent. It takes a few seconds for it to click, and then I sigh and disentangle my arm from hers, finding her hand instead and squeezing it. "You're in love with Squall."

She looks at me, surprised. "How did you know?"

I snort. "Who has never thought they were in love with Squall?"

That brings a faint smile to her lips, and she looks about to defend the depth and truth of her feelings for our Commander, but then he calls for our attention and we move closer to him, switching into battle mode, the change almost a visible one, despite the fact that it's simply an attitude.

He doesn't even have to ask us to form into our groups, we're already there – out of habit more than anything else. I smile at Irvine and he drapes a lazy arm around my shoulders, a flirty smile playing across his face.

When does Irvine _not_ flirt?

Quistis looks unhappy, standing beside Squall and Seifer, but she obviously resolves not to let feelings get in the way of her mission. Squall doesn't speak at all to Seifer as they follow me to the entrance. Medea has already opened it, and she salutes us as we stand beside it.

"I don't hear anyone around, sir," she says, standing up straight. So like Quistis; all perfect grades and perfect stance and good conduct.

"Thank you, Medea," he says with a nod. He turns to us again. "Seifer, Quistis and I will go in first. If we don't come back within ten minutes, it's okay for you to follow us. If you come to a place where the passages separate, which no doubt you will, take the right."

"Okay! Don't get lost!" I give them a cheeky smile. Squall just ignores it, Seifer rolls his eyes, and Quistis offers me the weakest attempt at a smile I've seen yet. "Smile, Quisty! It won't break your face!" I call after her.

Irvine just shakes his head, tipping his hat back a little. "I don't think you're helping, Sefie."

"I wish I could." I roll my eyes and settle back to wait for the time we're allowed to follow them.


	10. Surprise?

It's been a while. I have nothing to say for myself. Won the challenge with 65991 words altogether.

Please do not kill me for this chapter. I promise another comes soon.

* * *

**Seifer POV**

Squall is slightly ahead of us of course, being the responsible leader he is. The light down here is faint, but it's enough to see Squall's back in front of us and the glint of light from the blade of Lionheart. Quistis won't look at me, keeping her eyes fixed dead ahead, but I can see her solemn face perfectly.

I wish she wouldn't do that. I didn't do anything wrong. I never led her to believe that she had a chance with Squall. Hell, I wasn't sure if _I _did… Bitterness doesn't suit her.

Squall pauses suddenly in front of us, as if he's suddenly thought of something, his shoulders suddenly stiffening. "What?" Quistis asks, trying to be quiet, but her voice is loud in the stifling silence of the tunnel.

"Something… no, it's nothing." He shakes his head slightly and moves on. Nothing. And yet it was enough to make him pause.

Quistis shares a worried glance with me for just a split second before looking away again. Damn, I am going to get _so_ bored of this. Squall is totally mission focused, and Quistis is focused on avoiding us both as much as possible even though she's in our squad. Fucking boring.

"What sort of nothing?" I ask him, "The sort of nothing that means 'oh, crap, I forgot my gunblade polish', or the sort of 'oh, nothing, the roof is about to fall in but we can't do anything so I'll shut up'?"

I'm curious. So sue me. And I would like to know if the roof was about to fall in, of course. If that is going to happen, to hell with Quistis, I want to do a little more than kiss Squall before I die.

He doesn't answer me, simply keeps going, Lionheart in hand. "Expect trouble soon."

Quistis glances at him, her whip ready in her hand already. "You heard something when we stopped?"

"I wasn't distracted by someone asking stupid questions just now," he says, pointedly, with a glance at me.

_What_? I only wanted to know if the roof was about to fall in.

"Oh."

I don't even bother with a response.

Squall is right, though. Now we're all silent, I can hear the approaching footsteps, and a few steps later, we drop into ready stances.

The moment the soldiers come into view, we attack.

The battle is quick and virtually silent; all coming to the decision to kill, at least this time. Our three opponents fall easily to whip and gunblades. I drag the bodies into a sitting position against the wall, keeping them out of the way of our feet in case we need to make a hasty retreat later. Squall nods approvingly, his eyes staring through the dim passageways.

"We need to stay quiet," he says, already in motion again, leather creaking softly in the near silence.

Quistis and I follow him, obeying orders, until we reach a fork. For once, I feel no urge to disobey the authority – but then, I know that Squall will take the best possible action. He's one of the best tacticians I've ever known. He takes the left path, trusting the other group to take the right path as he told them.

"I haven't seen hide or hair of anyone since we killed those men," Quistis says quietly, almost nervously.

Squall nods, his jaw firm, carrying Lionheart easily in one hand, despite the weight of it. He doesn't wield it two handed for no reason. "I think we have a long way to go before we're anywhere near the heart of it."

"Fuck, how big can this place be?" I stare at the back of his head, already tired of this damn mission. Hate the silence, hate the almost darkness, hate the awkwardness of Quistis at our side. It'd be better if it was just Squall and me on this mission. But there's a treacherous part of me that even now is refusing to focus on the mission, is longing to press him against a wall and kiss the hell out of him. Just in case the roof _is_ going to fall in.

Or just because I really, really want to.

Maybe I am as irresponsible and unworthy of life as they say. Still, it feels damn good from where I'm standing. He doesn't answer me anyway, but keeps walking, the only sound he makes the soft scuff of his boots and the quiet creak of his leather pants. Why the hell did he want to wear leather, anyway?

Not that I'm complaining. It makes him look fucking hot.

Quistis breaks the silence this time, sounding worried. "I feel… like there's something following us."

Squall snorts, nodding his head. "I know."

Damn smug bastard.

"You think it's the others?"

"No."

"Who, then?"

"I think the reason I wanted Seifer to wait up there is about to catch up with us," he says, softly, barely audible. "I was worried they'd go after Selphie, Irvine and Zell, who wouldn't be ready for it."

I look sharply over at him. Shit, there really was a reason to wait up there? Figures. I thought that maybe he wasn't letting me go along with him because I'd be a distraction or whatever. I guess that was just my ego talking, and I _did_ mess up his plans.

He looks at me, eyes glinting in the dim light, and his mouth curves up into a smile. "It's okay, I suppose I should have told you the real reason. I just wasn't sure who I could trust."

"What?" Quistis spins to look at him.

He nods slightly. "I didn't know how these people were intending to get into Garden. I had to assume that I couldn't trust anyone."

"You can't."

* * *

**Quistis POV**

We all turn to look at the source of that voice. The new SeeD… Medea, and her team, stand there. She motions a few of them forward – the biggest, strongest of the lot, three boys… no, young men – and they lay three bodies on the ground.

It takes a moment for it to sink in. Then it dawns on us.

"Shit!" Seifer says it best, disbelief raw in his voice and the way he stands.

Selphie, Zell and Irvine.

Squall has straightened, his back stiff, his eyes narrowing. "What happened?"

"They attacked us," one of the boys says, disbelief echoed there. "They _attacked_ us."

Medea casts him a look, straightening up to salute Squall, prim and proper. Distractedly, I think that Selphie said that she reminds her of me, but… I suppose I _was_ like that. Probably still am.

He returns the salute, but his eyes are still narrow. "Report."

She drops her arm, standing at attention. "Sir, we were waiting to see if you would come back, but before it was time to go, these three attacked. Just… attacked. They'd been whispering among themselves, but we didn't think they were threatening. They are SeeDs, after all."

She's obviously in some shock about this, and I can't imagine what Squall is thinking. It sounds awful, impossible, but… it makes sense. He knew that treachery was probably afoot, but… Selphie? Irvine? Zell? It doesn't feel right at all.

But the proof is there, in the cuts and bruises on the cadets and the prone figures lying at their feet.

Squall nods to her. "Stand guard here. I'll discuss this… situation with Quistis and Seifer."

One of the young men speaks up, still seeming somewhat in shock. "Sir, do we have to wait here? Shouldn't we take them back outside? To the Ragnarok?"

He pauses, not hesitating, just pauses to think over his choices, and then he nods, "If you must."

The man nods in relief, bending to pick up the slim, limp body of Selphie. I turn my eyes away, unable to see her like that. She was a traitor? It doesn't seem possible.

Squall turns away, and Seifer follows him quickly, a thoughtful look on his face. I watch the SeeDs melt into the darkness beyond the few near lights, and then I turn and follow Squall as well.


	11. Apologetic

Amazingly, this chapter wasn't too obstinate, letting me turn it out pretty quickly, with only a little encouragement from my beloved Lisa. :D It took me just an hour and a half or so, even with procrastination!

Be happy, and rejoice, and so on.

Oh! - And I hope you all realised what becomes even more obvious in the first part of this chapter. ;)

* * *

**Squall POV**

"They didn't do it," I tell them, knowing they've probably already figured it out. "Those SeeDs are, effectively, the enemy. Traitors."

"No shit, Sherlock." Seifer rolls his eyes at me. He'd gotten the point almost immediately as well, never stupid.

Quistis is slower, still suspicious. She can never take anything on trust; she has to think it through for herself. I admire it, but I wish she would hurry up about it at times like this. She bit her lip thoughtfully, looking over her shoulder at the SeeDs carrying the limp, unconscious bodies of our friends. "But Garden would have to be betrayed high up in the ranks to make Garden topple..."

"Not if they can use lower ranked SeeDs and trap the Commander and his closest advisor down here," I say, grimly.

"But how did they knock Selphie, Irvine and Zell out, then?"

"Took them by surprise, or had help." Seifer shrugs, obviously seeing the situation as clearly as I do. Then he takes a deep breath, his eyes on mine firm and bright. "I'm sorry. If I'd have stayed up there..."

I finished it for him, before he dared take the blame, "...they would have got you too."

"Maybe, but I fucked up your plans."

"Seifer, it doesn't matter. Let it go."

"One of us three could fucking die trying to get out of here and you want me to just 'let it go'? Like hell, Squall. I fucked up."

He looks extraordinarily annoyed, with himself and with me. I can't help the thought that I told him so, that it's his own fault, however horrible a thought it is. 'I told you so' would the single most annoying thing I could possibly say.

Quistis shakes her head. "Seifer, give it up. It won't help."

"Shut up, Quistis," he snaps, knowing she's right and hating every minute of it.

"We should all shut up, if only for the good of the mission," she snaps back. At least she's talking to us now. She turns to me, her face determined, "We've got to do _something _for Selphie, Irvine and Zell."

"Of course," I nod, trying to think. It all depends on who they've got up there, and whether the three of them on our side can be woken easily.

But that's what they want us to do; to walk out into a trap. And even though we know about the trap, they've probably provided for that instance, too – if they have _any_ brains. And it will be best if we work on the assumption that they do; to get this far there must be _something_ there.

Seifer looks enraged and guilty all at once for a minute longer, and then his expression collapses into thoughtfulness, his eyes on me. "We could turn the trap on them."

I raise an eyebrow, already knowing where his thoughts are going. "Find a different way out of these passages and attack them from behind?"

"That's what I was thinking." He crosses his arms in front of him, looking to me and Quistis for an idea of the merits of his plan.

"I don't think that's a bad idea. At the least, it would be a good idea to get out of these tunnels fast, before they get impatient and collapse them or something," Quistis says, thoughtfully.

"Agreed. Let's go." I pause for a second despite saying that we should go. "I don't think they'll be expecting us to go on, but even so, we have to be careful."

Quistis bites her lip. "I think I'll go back a little, to make sure there's nobody following us. We don't need anybody going back to warn the ambushers that we've already decided on a different way out."

"Good idea."

She leaves us, her steps so soft we can barely hear her once she's a few metres away. The darkness closes around her quickly and Seifer turns to me, closing the distance between us and grabbing my hand, squeezing it tightly. "You fucking idiot. You should have told me that you thought those kids would be traitors. I could have got you _killed_."

"Or even Quistis. Seifer, don't worry about it. I should have trusted you and told you, anyway."

He doesn't release my hand, rolling his eyes. "Trust you to take some of the blame for yourself. And I can understand not trusting me; I've only fought you and hurt you and betrayed you for most of our lives."

"Stop it," I tell him with another glare. I lift up a little, cursing his height, and kiss him softly. He is obstinate for another minute before responding, his mouth soft against mine. I close my eyes, allowing the moment to take over me, not knowing when we'll be able to snatch another, but still wary.

It's only Quistis's returning steps that make me pull away from him, and he smirks a little at me as I turn to her. "Anything?"

"Nobody there, but that isn't to say there wasn't anyone…" She frowns a little, then looks at the distance, or the lack of it, between me and Seifer with a weak, but knowing, smile. "I thought you weren't supposed to indulge yourself during a mission, Commander?" she teases.

Seifer raises an eyebrow at her sudden acceptance of the situation, but it doesn't surprise me too much. Quistis is work, work and mission, at this moment. Personal matters come later, and for now, for the integrity of the group, she'll smile and take anything.

I ignore her, still feeling a touch of discomfort despite her apparent acceptance. "Shall we go on?"

* * *

**Selphie POV**

Waking up with a headache is something I don't do often. Though I _do_ go out and get drunk occasionally, just in fun, I know how to handle hangovers and I rarely ever wake up with them.

The sun hurts my eyes and I close them again with a little groan, only just registering that I'm laying on a rock; a cold, hard rock. And that because a little sticking up bit of it is digging into my back. Where the hell am I?

I shift, carefully, and with some difficulty, and as I shift, there's a flurry of movement beside me and a cold gun barrel against my temple.

"She's awake," a voice says to someone, and then it speaks to me, "Don't move, or I'll shoot."

"You wouldn't dare," another voice says, beside me, weakly. Irvine!

"Irvine?" I ask, quietly, hardly daring to open my eyes again and get blinded by the sun. There's a click from the gun held to my head.

"I told you not to speak."

"Oh, give it up, Meddy," someone else speaks up, "It won't do us any harm if they talk."

The gun left my head and I lie still, taking stock.

The first voice speaks again, "I thought I was in command here."

"Fine, you're in command, but it won't do them any harm to talk. They're bound so they can't move other than that, after all."

I open my eyes carefully, a little at a time, taking stock of my situation and letting my eyes get used to the light which is far too bright, all things considered.

"Sorry they got you, sunshine," Irvine says quietly from beside me. I turn my head to look at him and give him a small smile.

"Oh, you couldn't help it! They took us all by surprise."

"I should have been on guard."

"Don't be silly, we all should have been, it's everyone's silly fault. How's Zell?"

"Not awake yet," he says, with a touch of worry, "I think they hit him pretty hard to knock him out; he has a hard head."

"He'll come round eventually," I say, confidently, though not feeling quite that confident. Maybe they hit Zell too hard… I remember how much it hurt when I blacked out, and I don't feel too much better than that now. My body feels heavy and if I could sit up, I know I'd feel dizzy.

"Are _you_ okay?" Irvine asks me, still concerned. He looks funny without his hat, no doubt fallen off during the brief fight.

"I'll live," I say, with a rueful smile. "What about you?"

"I'm ashamed to say that I went out like a light the first time they hit me, so they didn't hit me as much as you or Zell." He sighs, closing his eyes and trying to find a comfortable position, bound as he is. "This is why I'm just not cut out for SeeD."

"You did fine," I say, soothingly, and close my own eyes, the light still hurting.

It feels like an eternity of not moving, of being pummelled by the rays of sunshine that make even the darkness behind my eyelids bright red and which I can almost feel scorching my skin, until Zell stirs with a loud groan and a curse.

"What the fuck…!"

"It'd be best if you lay still, Zell," I tell him quickly, "We're prisoners and you're going to have a nasty bump on your head."

"Nasty bump! It feels like a fucking mountain," he says, but he listens to me, not trying to move. "Whose prisoners?"

Medea moves beside us, silencing Zell with that horribly annoying gun against his head, and I squash a vague feeling of irritation. Why did the girl ever remind me of Quistis?

"It'd be best if you keep still and quiet. I don't have much patience."

All three of us subside, recognising the seriousness of the threat. I hate relying on Squall to save us, but there's nothing else to do, with our back up team the traitors and no way to call Garden.


	12. Maze

Oh, I'm so bad. ; I've taken so long over this chapter, and I really shouldn't be writing right now anyway, with an exam tomorrow morning... not to worry. It's English lit, so I'll be fine. Anyone who recognises the Tidus quote in this chapter... heh. I swear, it came out before I even realised Tidus said it. I've been playing too much FFX, maybe.

In case you hadn't noticed the blatant references to mythology, this chapter takes it even further. Heh - I didn't mean it to, either. The only thing I meant was the naming of Medea, but the rest of it sort of followed on from there on it's own. Medea is, of course, not from the same legend as is mostly used this chapter.

* * *

**Seifer POV**

After hours of walking through this maze of passageways, my faith in any possible exit is fast fading. Even Squall and Quistis seem to fade a little. The dark numbs a person, the lack of light dulling the senses so that sensation is just a remembered dream. Ultimecia knew that. It was one way she loved to punish me. Sensory deprivation.

I tighten my hand around Hyperion, feeling the solid of the hilt, but even that doesn't cut through the hazy dream. We've been silent and in this darkness ever since the whole place dimmed, just walking onwards in hope of finding an exit. I swear if this goes on any longer, I'm going to go insane. I speak just to reassure myself that I still have a voice, "Shit, is this place endless or something?"

"It's a maze," Quistis says, patiently, as she said the last time I spoke. "We'll find the way out soon. There's nothing I can do to get us out of here any faster."

"Sure, like, tomorrow soon, I bet. You said that a few hours ago, when the lights went out." I glance sideways at Squall, but his silence isn't helping me at all. In this darkness, he and Quistis might as well be just dreams or illusions and I wouldn't know.

"Afraid of the dark?" she asks, teasingly, but to my shame, it's annoyingly close to the truth. The dark is impersonal, threatening, pressing all around me.

"Fuck it," I mutter, and even though it's childish and stupid to need comfort, I reach out and take Squall's hand, switching Hyperion into my left hand and entwining the fingers of my right hand with the fingers of his left. He squeezes a little, perhaps sensing my unease, and I resist the urge to yank my hand away and pretend I didn't just do that.

We walk on, of course. There's nothing else to do. After a few more minutes, Squall speaks. "I would prefer it to be light, too, Quistis," he says, quietly, and then shuts up again. At least with his hand there, warm and solid, I can't imagine that he's a ghost.

"Maybe there _is_ something I can do about that…" She stoops to pick something up, and I hear her muttering softly before fire bursts into life, horribly bright after the never ending dark.

"Shit, Quistis, could have warned me!" I close my eyes for a moment and open them slowly, getting used to the new light.

"Sorry," she apologises, looking at my hand joined with Squall's with a raised eyebrow. I just glare at her and she doesn't comment, holding the torch she's made higher. "I should have thought of this before." She turns away from us and carries on walking, and I'm about to follow her when Squall speaks up again.

"Wait," he says, and turns to examine the floor at the foot of the wall, his hand pulling free of mine now anyway. A small smile appears on his face and he shakes his head. "That's why they turned the lights out."

Along the foot of the wall runs a woollen thread disturbing the dust and I remember the few lessons we had on navigating through difficult buildings, like this one. "A ball of thread, carried with a person to make sure they could find the exit again," Quistis says with a small smile to match Squall's. "I guess it must be Medea's, no one who lives here or is a bit more professional would do that."

"Right. And all we have to do is follow it and we should find the right exit." The thought of getting out of these damn passageways has never been more welcome. It isn't even a long way, now that there's light again from the bit of wood Quistis lit with a fire spell. Squall finds a small lever in the wall that we'd never have noticed in the dark, and a part of the wall opens to let the light in.

"We probably passed this place quite a few times in the dark," Quistis says, dropping the still burning torch before the flames get down to her hand, "There's nothing but the lever to _show_ that it's the exit."

"Probably in the original design of the place. It's hard to attack if you can't find the entrance and hard to come back and attack another day when you can't find the exit," Squall agrees with her, looking around. "I think we're about a mile away from where Medea and the others will be waiting."

"We won't get there before night," Quistis says, worriedly. "Maybe we should call for reinforcements from Garden."

"To the Ragnarok first, then. We need to call Garden before we can do anything else, and then we should stock up."

I don't know about them, but I think the most important part is not what we'll do when we get to the Ragnarok, but finding the Ragnarok at all. "Whoa, you two. Do you have any idea which direction the Ragnarok is actually in? There's no landmarks here, remember?"

Quistis smiles slightly, "Technology is a wonderful thing. All registered SeeDs have these for missions now, thanks to Estharian technology and President Loire's kindness." She pulls something out of her pocket to show me; a locator. "It took a while to get the system installed, but a squad leader's locator keeps an eye on all members of his or her squad. Squall's keeps tabs on _all_ SeeDs, since he's the Commander. We'll be able to find Selphie, Zell and Irvine with this, even if they've been moved."

Of course. Garden has used its ties with Esthar to its advantage. I'd never have been able to disobey orders with such style back when I was a cadet if these things had been in use back then.

"Come on," Squall says, already starting to walk. I follow slightly behind him, anticipating a long and extremely boring walk. At least it's a nice view.

* * *

**Zell POV**

Darkness fell about an hour ago, as my stomach is constantly reminding me. I must have missed at least two meals by now and I don't like it one bit. The traitors haven't deigned to feed us, although the girl has stopped pointing a gun at us every two minutes. We can talk, quietly, but none of us feel much like it. Selphie managed to slip me a potion earlier, and I appreciate the effort although it hasn't helped much with my aching head. Everyone seems to be waiting, which just makes my stomach rumble even more with hunger and some kind of nerves. We must be waiting for Squall, Seifer and Quistis to get back. I hope they're okay, and I hope they aren't going to be caught in this trap.

I've long given up trying to concentrate and eavesdrop on our captors, so I'm lying back against this highly uncomfortable rock with my eyes closed when I hear the little clicks of handcuffs being released. "Ssh," Selphie says, and then her hands are on my handcuffs, freeing me. "They're not looking right now, but lay still. Squall is here, with reinforcements."

Irvine is asleep, his hat over his face, since someone found it for him earlier. The world could tumble around us, and Irvine would still have his bloody hat. I nudge him to wake him up as Selphie climbs across as quietly as she can. "Wait for Squall's signal," she whispers, but there's no point in that as a girl in the camp cries out, a black gloved hand going over her mouth as Squall, Seifer, Quistis and the few reinforcements from Garden attack.

"The Commander!"

Seifer restrains her for only a moment before getting sick of her struggles, letting go of her for a brief moment and rapping her smartly on the head with the hilt of Hyperion, "Shut up, you little whining bitch." He looks up at us, grinning, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Squall rolls his eyes as he knocks out another one, disarming her as well. "Are you three okay?"

I stand up, a little too fast, feeling dizzy. "My head hurts."

"Not surprising, considering how often you get hit," Quistis says, looking amused. "We're not going to attack tonight, so don't worry, you'll get a chance to get some revenge."

"I'd better do," I mumble, rubbing my head.

"You let Medea get away!" Selphie says, bouncing up, about to run after her. Even watching her energy makes my head hurt right now.

"That's all part of the plan, so you can relax. Come on; let's get back to the Ragnarok."

The reinforcements turn out to be well stocked with magic, casting curaga on all three of us and offering their support on the way back to the Ragnarok. A couple more spells and a hot dog later, I feel fine, though I keep quieter than usual as the others speak, my head still hurting a little when I get too energetic.

"Medea fled, and we assume she fled into the base, since the only punishment for treachery is death or life imprisonment," Squall says, putting his locator in the middle of the table. "She's stupid enough not to have ditched her locator, so we know where she is. It doesn't matter much that she knows where we are, because we can just leave our locators behind when we attack. They won't be expecting it, hopefully."

"Just don't forget your balls of wool," Seifer mutters, leaning back in his chair.

Quistis and Squall both laugh, lightly. "We aren't going to get lost in that maze again, either."

"Maze?" Selphie asks, tilting her head to one side.

Seifer sighs quietly, rubbing the scar between his eyes thoughtfully. "We were lost in a great big maze because we decided that we'd do the clever thing and completely avoid the trap, in which you were the bait."

Quistis nods, "I'm not so sure now that it _was_ a trap. I think the main trap, at least, _was_ the maze. They weren't expecting us to find a way out."

"In a way, Medea helped us there," Squall agrees. He stands up, looking at Seifer with a small smile, "Early bedtime for us all, I think. We'll attack quite early in the morning so make sure you get enough sleep and are stocked up."

"Yes, sir," Quistis and Selphie chorus, to Squall's displeased look. Seifer gets up, and they both leave together, the door shutting behind them.

"Are there any more hot dogs?" I ask, hopefully.


	13. Ready?

Hey! Sorry I'm taking so infernally long with updates. Exam time, and nineteen exams. -- It's so futzing with my ability to write as much as I want to. That, and, well, I've lost my 'feel' for this fic. If it's OOC and whatever, just blame the muses - they aren't playing fair.

That said, only two more chapters and maybe an epilogue and I'll probably count this done. :)

And if you haven't read Stockholm Syndrome by me and Iliyana? Do. ;) We had loads of fun with that fic.

* * *

**Seifer POV**

Squall sits down on the bed that is going to be too small to share comfortably, and gives me a 'what are you doing in here?' look, to which I just shrug, sitting down beside him. He sits still and quiet for about a minute before sighing and letting me put my arm around him. "You know what is really fucking unfair?" I ask him.

"No," he says, plainly waiting for me to tell him.

"Medea is really a traitor… but people will still look on me as the greater threat, and I was under the control of the sorceress." I sigh, reminded of Squall's idea that, maybe, if I help SeeD win this battle, people will look on me as less of a threat.

"They'll still believe you're the leader of this rebellion, too," he hesitates, and then adds, "I'll do my best to get you cleared of all guilt. It might take a while though… maybe you should stay in Garden until this whole thing blows over."

I snort quietly, reaching up to catch his chin in my hand and turn his face to mine, pressing my lips against his and half whispering, "You think I'm going anywhere away from you now that I know you have some kind of feelings for me? I'm going to stick around and annoy you as much as I possibly can, princess."

"Don't call me princess," he mutters, nerves frayed from the day's work. I snort quietly and run a hand through his hair, teasing out the tangles as I kiss him again. He's always seemed to bring out the best in me. The best possible parts of my competitive, arrogant nature; making me a fighter to be feared as much as he is. Without him, I'd be nothing when it comes to fighting. Consciously or not, he's always challenged me, pushed me to be better. I'm sure it's the same in reverse for him.

And now, in these quiet moments between action, he's bringing out a gentler side of me. The side of me that has romantic dreams, though God knows they need squashing the minute they resurface.

Our kisses are only soft, few deepening beyond a quick taste of each other. When I feel him start to get a little more tired, a little more distant, I nibble lightly on Squall's lip until he does pull back, eyes opening a little hazily. "I'm tired."

"So get ready for bed," I say, knowing he wants me to leave, knowing that that's my dismissal, and honestly not giving a shit. "I'm not going anywhere."

He gives me a mild glare. Damn, he really is tired. "Seifer, just go."

"What if I don't want to?" I smirk at him. "There's enough space to share that bed."

"Hardly," he snorts, but to my surprise, he doesn't force me to leave, simply getting up and pulling away from my hold. At my curious look, he smiles slightly. "If you're staying, you'd better be going to sleep now, or you can get lost."

I don't need a second invitation, getting up and kicking my boots off, watching as he strips off his shirt and works on getting his belts undone. He raises an eyebrow at my look, "And don't try anything. The Ragnarok isn't the best place to be doing anything loud."

I just smirk at him, but with that said; a kind of awkwardness grows between us. We've seen each other naked before, of course, before this relationship started, even before the sorceress war, but how many clothes do we keep on when we sleep in the same bed?

Finally, he makes a decision, pulling off leather pants and underwear and immediately slipping into the bed, avoiding my eyes, turning to face the wall and shutting his own eyes. I finish stripping, turn out the light and join him, wrapping my arms around him, pressing my face into the back of his neck. He's warm, warm and solid and very alive. I guess I always imagined he'd be colder, with his icy personality.

I trail a hand down his side, finding the small scars marring the smoothness of the rest of his skin, tracing the larger ones. I can even remember when he got some of these marks. Most of them, probably. I wish… that we had been closer before this. It would have been… interesting. And maybe I wouldn't have been such a stupid ass. I kiss the back of his neck and he sighs softly. "Are you going to go to sleep anytime soon, Seifer?"

"Am I keeping you awake?" I ask, my fingers tracing the scar that I know must be from the icicle that pierced him.

He snorts softly, "No, but the opposite might be true." He turns in my arms and suddenly I'm reminded of how very naked we both are. "I thought I told you that the Ragnarok isn't the best place to be doing anything loud."

"I'm sure you could be very, very quiet if you tried hard," I say with a little smirk.

He rolls his eyes, "I was more worried about you being loud."

I tighten my arms around him and shut my eyes, "Nah, I don't want to try anything when we're so cramped anyway. Go to sleep."

"Alright." He buries his face in my shoulder. I can feel the change in his body as he drifts off; tensions easing off and new ones easing in, a shifting of his body from one mode to the next. Even in his sleep he's alert, but that doesn't stop me touching him. The darkness is sensory deprivation, and although I hate it, I have to admit; I'm scared of the dark now.

So once he's asleep, I touch him, reminding myself of my other senses, running my fingers through his hair and dropping kisses on his face. I have to be gentle, soft, barely there, else I'll wake him. I know that, and I'm extra careful, feeling his warm solidarity against me and relaxing, even as I hate the dark and the cramped space, surrendering to sleep peacefully, for once.

* * *

**Squall POV**

For just a split second, it's quite the surprise to wake up in Seifer's arms, but though I'm not exactly a morning person, realisation comes fast to me. Usually I'd be up and getting dressed immediately, my body trained to carry on without my mind until I get coffee and the slice of toast that passes for breakfast. This morning, I'm restrained by Seifer's arms around me, and too warm and comfortable to really consider moving.

I hear Zell banging about, knocking on everyone's door, and I figure out what woke me. Sighing, I resist the urge to burrow further into bed and instead answer when Zell bangs on the door.

"Yo, Squall!"

"I'm awake."

"Figured you would be. Where's Seifer? He isn't in any of the rooms…" I can just picture his face at that puzzle, scratching his head.

"He's in here."

Zell opens the door, probably assuming that if we're both in here, we're both up and dressed, blinks at the sight of us wrapped around each other, and shuts the door again. Damn the Ragnarok for not being properly private. "Whoa! I'll pretend I didn't see that and just assume that you'll be up soon."

Surprising. I thought he'd make more of a fuss about it. I poke Seifer, and he stirs, grumpily. Trust him to sleep through anything when he's comfortable. "Wake up, Seifer."

He lets go of me, but doesn't actually open his eyes or openly suggest that he's awake. I climb out of bed, rolling my eyes, and get dressed before attempting to actually get him up. "Get up, now, Seifer."

He cracks an eye open and smirks at me, "Gonna make me?"

"Yes. With a blizzard spell if necessary."

"You're cruel," he mutters, getting out of bed and pulling on his clothes. I turn away from him to sort out my hair, frowning at the typical mess of it. I see him in the mirror behind me a split second before his arms slip around my waist, saving him the elbow in the jaw he deserves for doing such a stupid thing unexpectedly.

"Do you think we'll end all this today?"

"I hope so."

He buries his face in my neck, silent, worried. "It's going to be quite the fight if they're as strong as they think they are."

"Yeah."

"Be careful, won't you?" He nips at my shoulder lightly, but he's completely serious, probably afraid that I'll manage to get myself killed today. Stupid idiot. If he couldn't manage to kill me, there's no chance I'm letting some other idiot kill me.

"I'm not going to die in a conflict as stupid as this one."

"Good. Don't." He pauses, nipping at my neck again and then straightens. "Just in case, there's something you should know." I let a questioning silence fill the room, waiting from him to speak and tell me, rather than leave me guessing. He sighs, reaching up to run his hands through my hair, his voice hesitant, "I love you."

I don't answer him for a long moment, and then, with a nod, I acknowledge it, pulling out of his embrace. "We should go and join the others now."

"Right," he agrees, maybe a little disappointed, running his hand through his hair and straightening out his shirt.

The truth is, I love him too. But saying that… just saying 'I love you too' doesn't feel as… meaningful as it should, somehow. So I won't say a thing. The moron should know anyway, or at least know that I care. I wouldn't… do anything meaningless. And a relationship with him would be meaningless if I didn't care about or love him, right?

I'll trust him to understand. Probably a stupid thing to do, but we can talk later.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

Zell averts his eyes from us when we join the others, and Quistis looks a little pained, but the others still don't know about it. Probably better that way, although it won't last for long.

"Are you guys ready then?" Selphie is far too cheerful, as always.

"Yes," I reply, before Seifer can get some kind of snide comment in.

"Then let's go kick butt!"


	14. Final battle

Short chapter! D: The bit at the end is rather evil, I think, but don't kill me. I promise that I won't take so long to update, though it'll be at least a week, with iliyana visiting next week. :D

* * *

**Zell POV**

"Shit. Shit, Squall, shit."

"Shut up," he hissed at me, pressing a wad of cloth against his side, cool as a fucking cucumber even when bleeding to death in the middle of a battle. "Someone will hear you. Just make sure no one tramples on me and I'll be fine."

"You got it, baby!" I nod, standing up and grinning in the face of a rather confused looking attacker. With a quick gesture they don't register, I cast thunder and watch in satisfaction as the man falls back. A punch to the solar plexus and a further knee in his groin mean this guy ain't gonna be bothering me again anytime soon. I spare a quick curaga for Squall, but don't waste time hanging around waiting for him to glare at me. "Hey, piece of shit, pick on someone your own size!"

Okay, Selphie's not that much smaller than me. Three inches or so? But she's a girl, and three on one ain't fair.

One guy turns towards me.

One guy down.

"Squall, you okay there? I can get Seifer if -"

"I'll be _fine_." He takes a deep breath and casts a curaga, the wound closing a little with the sparkles of healing magic dancing around it. Squall leans back, keeping the wadded up cloth – someone's shirt, by the looks of it – against his side. "Can't rush healing this, might be dirty. Just guard me, Zell, and stop talking. And _don't_ bring Seifer, whatever you do. He'll go nuts. Have some sense, Zell."

I consider that and nod reluctantly. From the way they were wrapped around each other earlier, there's probably... hell, there's _definitely_ something going on between them, and there's one thing I know from painful experience. Seifer Almasy does not let people damage something of his and get away with it. Somehow I could see him considering Squall as _his_ and extending that rule to him.

Granted, it's not quite Balamb Garden down here, but I'm sure Seifer's old ways would serve him just as well down here.

Looking through the fray, I catch sight of Medea. Right, bitch. You're going down.

"Stay there, Squall!" I tell him, and he rolls his eyes.

"I don't think I can move right now _anyway_. Just do what you have to do. I can still cast spells."

It's a pity we can't use GFs down here for fear of hitting our own. Squall would still pack a _serious_ punch, injured or not, if he could summon Shiva.

"I'll be right back!" I promise, and run through to get to the girl. At one point I almost have to stop and deal with someone, but Quistis turns, downing the guy in one expert crack of the whip. I thank her quickly, but I ain't sticking around. I have a little treacherous shit to catch.

It's pathetically anti climatic as I grab her from behind, hand clamping over her mouth so she can't shout for help, fist connecting with the side of her head hard enough to knock her out. Her body goes limp immediately and I pick her up, roughly, making my way back to Squall and dropping her beside him.

"Present for you." At his grunt, I narrow my eyes and squat on my heels beside him. "How are you now, Squall?"

He looks up at me, pupils dilated a bit from pain, and rolls his eyes. "Just fine."

I look down at the cloth pressed against his side. "Oh no, Squall, you don't get away with that. _Look_ at it. You're bleeding enough for all the special effects for the most gory movie _ever_. I'm going to get Seifer."

"Don't be fucking stupid," he hisses, shifting slightly, but blanching even more at the pain. I hold my hands just above the wound and whisper curaga, only to find that I don't have any left.

"Shit."

"What?"

"Out of curaga."

"I've got some," he says, and starts to gesture for the spell. I grab his hands, holding them still, and shake my head. No way is he casting spells when he's like this, takes too much god damn energy.

"No way. Let me get someone, if you won't let me get Seifer, _someone_ must have curagas on them."

"I'll be _fine_, Zell, shut up!" he says, and promptly passes out.

* * *

**Seifer POV**

"Seifer! Shittin' hell Almasy, are you deaf!"

I was tempted to knock chickenwuss's head off for that, but with the frantic look on his face, I thought he might wet himself if I made a single wrong move and so I just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Squall's hurt, he – what the fuck! Almasy -"

I raised Hyperion, swinging it over the little punk's head, making sure to clip the tips of his spiked-up bangs as I behead the guy who was trying to take him out. "You should be thanking me, chickenwuss. You owe me one."

"No time. Squall -"

That's the second time he mentioned Squall and broke off. I step aside as he steps forward, driving his fist into a man's stomach and propelling him back.

"Now we're even," Zell says, but he shows none of the triumph he should. He takes a deep breath, hand on my arm, tugging. "I came to find you because Squall's injured. He's lost too much blood and he's passed out."

"Fuck!" I glare at him. "And it took you this long to tell me!"

"You're the one fucking about. Come on." For once, I follow chickenwuss without arguing. Fuck, whoever hurt Squall... they'd better already be dead, or they'll wish they were by the time I'm through with them.

Thoughts of vengeance fly from my mind when I see him there, propped up against a wall, bleeding his life out. He's awake again, eyes half closed in pain. "Squall," I say softly, and he looks up, business as usual immediately.

"Think it got my lung or something, but I'd be dead by now if it had... can't breathe too well."

"That could just be you being an idiot," I growl at him, bending down to look at the wound. It's deep, but it shouldn't be stopping him breathing so well... he's probably just unconsciously holding his breath, if he breathed out I think it would hurt more. I don't touch the wound, searching it with my eyes. "If I cure and it's infected..."

"Kadowaki can deal with it, just stop the bleeding. No need to fully close the skin, just stop the bleeding," he says, softly.

Our eyes lock for a moment, his determined, and I nod. "Right. No bitching and whining if it goes septic."

"'kay."

Curaga after curaga, our eyes hold. He seems to breathe easier for a moment and I stop, hoping that this will be enough, seeing the mostly healed gash in his side.

He touches my arm and looks at me, breathless, a trickle of blood spilling down from a bitten lip, and drags me close to kiss him. I taste blood on him and fuck, it's intoxicating, steel and gunpowder and _Squall_. He falls back, gasping softly, and looks up into my eyes. "Love you," he whispers, closing his eyes, and with the meaning of his words sinking in, it takes me a moment to realise he's not just resting his eyes.


	15. Finale

I'm sorry to have frightened you all so! Though iliyana can tell you that I got a lot of giggles out of your reactions. If anyone is at all interested in our doings over the past week, I will tell you that we had a lot of fun and wrote a lot of porn. ;D Fans of Stockholm Syndrome, if there are any, should note that if I ever get around to it, there's a regular porn series there. xD

This will be the last chapter, I think. The final chapter/epilogue! Forgive me for wrapping things up so fast, and for any plotholes, but this needed to get finished _now_. If you find anything, point it out and I'll correct it as best as I can. It's been fun to write – thanks for all the reviews! Did you know that this fic alone has had over a thousand page views? And seventeen favourites! Wow! I heart you guys. ;D

This entire fic is dedicated to **iliyana**, my dear heart, because it was her idea and because I love her so awfully much. :D

Forgive me for all the sap!

* * *

**Squall POV**

Black fades to grey to a kind of pinkish colour before I open my eyes, shutting them again immediately at the bright light assaulting them. The infirmary. White and clean and safe. Is the battle over?

A quick movement at my side sends adrenaline racing through my body, but the hand that roughly takes hold of mine is immediately identifiable simply by the punishment that only a gunblade's grip can give its wielder's hands. "Squall," Seifer says, his voice rough, "I thought..."

"Idiot," I mutter, opening my eyes a slit again. Seifer moves to block the light and I open my eyes fully, looking up at him. His eyes are red. "Don't tell me you cried."

"Not at all," he says, smirking a little. He leans down to kiss me lightly, his hand tightening around mine. "But fuck, you gave me such a scare, Squally-boy. Just 'love you' and then lights out."

"The battle, did we...?"

Seifer nods, leaning back in his seat without releasing my hand. "It was easy. Chickenwuss helped me get you out of there, but the battle was mostly over by that time. Sel got you with a full cure and then we carried you here. Figure you just passed out from the pain."

"Sel?" I wonder aloud. Since when did he refer to her as anything but 'that girl' or something like that?

"She helped out a lot. You've been out for... three days. I thought..." he sighs, shaking his head. "Enough of that. I suppose you're curious to know what's going on, aren't you?"

I nod slightly, disentangling my hand from his and carefully using both hands as support to lever myself up. I ache, but we all know well that cures just patch a person together. Time is the real healer. I wince at the thought of how bad it might've been a few days ago. Perhaps it's a good thing I was unconscious for so long, whether it worried Seifer or not.

"The President – Laguna," he corrects himself, and I smile wryly. No doubt Laguna demanded that his son's friend and lover call him by his name rather than his title. Seifer clears his throat a little and continues, "declared my innocence on your behalf. He said a lot about my courage in defending you and the spells I cast to protect you. He's a good storyteller when he feels like it. Medea has been imprisoned, pending a trial. I'm to go on trial, too, but it's pretty much confirmed already that I'm innocent. She's informed on the leaders of the group, and they're to stand trial as well, accused of first inciting rebellion and then wrongly pinning blame on me."

Only the part that I've hoped for the most really sinks in for now. What I wanted has come to pass, then. He's proved his own innocence – even made himself a hero. I smile slightly and he scowls at me, rolling his eyes.

Then I remember. "Lionheart – when I fell – did you find - ?"

He shakes his head, frowning. "No. But I'm sure we can go back and find the thing." He reaches for my hand again, squeezing. "I was more concerned with getting you out of there. I didn't even think about your gunblade."

"Moron."

There's a moment of silence, and then Seifer snorts softly. "So I'm a hero for saving the real hero's ass."

"Still a hero."

He rolls his eyes, putting a hand up and placing it on my cheek. "I promised everyone I'd go and disturb them when you woke. Is that okay, or do you need to sleep now?"

"I think I've slept enough."

He smiles, nodding, "I'll go get everyone, then."

* * *

_Epilogue_

"Squall?" Seifer voice echoes through the cavern and I turn to smile at him. He strides up to me, wrapping his arms around my waist possessively and holding me close. "We found Lionheart. We can go now."

"Yeah," I say softly, but make no effort to move.

He doesn't push, just holding me and letting me have the moment for a while before speaking. "What are you going to do about this place? It's practically an invitation for people to use it as a base."

"We'll collapse it. Esthar has the technology, and it's in everyone's best interests."

Seifer hums softly, his arms tightening around me as he rests his chin on my shoulder. "So that's it? It's over?"

"Yeah. You're free to do whatever now, since people view you as a hero for what you did for me." I turn my head, looking up at him, "Thank you for that, by the way."

"No problem," he mutters.

"What're you going to do now you're free to go anywhere?" I ask, almost holding my breath. A part of me knows that because he loves me, he isn't going anywhere without me. A part of me remembers how he was trapped by Ultimecia and that part asserts that I don't want to keep him with me if he wants to be elsewhere.

Still, he doesn't seem trapped. He seems... happy. Happier than I ever remember him being. I don't think he was happy when he was always with Raijin and Fujin, terrorising other students with the disciplinary committee. He wasn't happy living out his romantic dream, either. Dare I hope that he's found something to make him happy?

The day I woke up after the battle, he brought the others in to see me. He fit. There was Zell, bickering with him as always, but without hostility. With the sense that we had the old Seifer back. Seifer from the Orphanage. And Quistis rolled her eyes and sighed at him, but she wasn't cutting and she smiled. Selphie bounced and Seifer ignored her, mostly, with the same _comfortableness_ that, as a group, we've never had chance to feel before. Irvine and Seifer ignored each other, and that was as it should be.

"I was thinking of staying right where I am. With you."

It took us a while to find home. For a while, we all thought of home as the Orphanage. But its not so much the Orphanage as the group. We've fought together now, and now more than even when we fought Ultimecia, we're a group again.

"Yo, Seifer! Get your ass out of there now and bring Squall with you!"

"Shut the fuck up, chickenwuss, you're spoiling a moment!"


End file.
